Scaffolding: How Parents Can Promote Learning Through Guided Play

寓教於樂：父母就是孩子最堅固的「腳手架」

How children learn is something that we are all interested in, some of us from a scientific perspective, others from a policy perspective, and most of us from the perspective of a parent.

我們都很好奇孩子是如何學習知識的，不管是從科學的角度，從政策的角度，還是絕大多數人從爲人父母的角度。

Watching my son figure out something new—like how to fit wooden blocks into a shape sorter or how to make his music box play—is both fascinating and exciting for both the mom and the researcher in me. At the ripe old age of two, every day offers him a new discovery, and I am more than happy to sit back and watch as he learns from the world around him.

從我作爲母親和研究人員的視角看來，觀察我兒子探索新世界，例如拼接木塊或者玩音樂盒，都是一件迷人且令人興奮的事。在他長大到兩歲的時候，他每天都在探索新的事物，而我就坐在他身後看着他從身邊的世界裏不斷學習。

Some researchers have likened infants to "baby scientists"—experimenting with their environments on their own to learn new things. Like scientists, children do learn new things by experimenting with the world, but the truth is, very few actual scientists work alone. In fact, scientists often accomplish the most when they work in groups or in pairs, and it turns out that the same can be true for young children.

有些人稱嬰兒爲“小寶貝科學家”，因爲他們爲了瞭解身邊的世界而不斷的探索着。孩子們和科學家一樣，通過做實驗來學習新的東西。事實上，只有少數科學家是自己一個人做研究的，絕大多數都是團隊合作完成，或至少是兩個人一起。這個特點在小孩子身上也是一樣的。 

Consistent with this idea, a very famous psychologist from the early 1900's named Lev Vygotsky proposed something quite revolutionary for his time.

前蘇聯著名發展心理學家利維·維谷斯基（Lev Vygotsky）在20世紀初提出了一個在當時極具革命性的概念。

He suggested that children might accomplish the most when they work with someone smarter than them. He described the zone of proximal development, which is what a child can achieve with the help of an adult, often their moms.

當孩子和比他們聰明的人一起時，孩子能獲得更大的成就。這就是教育心理學人盡皆知的“最近發展區（zone of proximal development）”概念 —— “比現在的我做得更好一點點”，就是“最近發展”，而孩子可以在成年人的幫助（多數時候是母親的幫助下）實現這份“最近發展”。

Within the zone, parents can scaffold behaviors for their children by providing instruction and guidance, much like the scaffolding on buildings provides those structures with support so that they can grow to reach their greatest height.

在這個發展區裏，父母爲孩子的行爲提供瞭如同腳手架作用的指引和指導, 而孩子就可以在這種幫助下達到他們所能到達的最高處。

Luckily, scaffolding isn't something that most parents have to work too hard at—they do it naturally just by talking to or playing with their kids.

慶幸的是，爲孩子提供這種支持並不是難事（這有個很形象的說法：爲孩子架起“腳手架（scaffolding）”，家長們要做的也就是和平常一樣，陪孩子聊天啊玩耍啊之類的。

In fact, you can probably see examples of scaffolding any time you watch a mom talk to her baby. Babies love to see their moms smile at them, so a simple smile can act as a positive reinforcement or scaffold, encouraging the baby to repeat whatever it was that made her grin in the first place. Thus, by providing a loving smile, laugh, or pat on the back, moms can inadvertently help their babies learn.

其實很多時候你看一位母親在和她的寶貝說話時，就是她在搭建腳手架。孩子們非常喜歡看到母親對着他們笑，簡單的笑容起到的是正面鞏固和腳手架的作用。它鼓勵孩子去重複他們剛纔那個讓大人微笑的動作。所以母親的一個有愛的微笑，爽朗的笑聲，或者輕拍孩子背部都在很大程度上幫助孩子們學習。

For example, researchers interested in how moms shape their babies' language learning trained moms to reinforce their 8-month-olds whenever they babbled by simply smiling and moving closer to them. After just a short session in the lab, the babies who's mothers reinforced their babbling babbled more, and they babbled better (using sounds that more closely align with English sounds) than babies who were not reinforced.

有一個研究是母親通過微笑和靠近孩子的方式作爲鼓勵，來訓練8個月大年紀嬰兒的語言學習。在進行了非常短的一輪實驗之後發現，在牙牙學語的時候接受到鼓勵的一組嬰兒，比沒有接受鼓勵的一組開口說話次數更多、也更好（發出的音更接近單詞發音）。

Further, when mothers responded to their babies' babbles by repeating similar sounds, babies modified their babbles to match the sounds that their mothers made, also resulting in more mature babbling. I see the very same thing happening every day in my own home: My son says a word, I smile and repeat it, he then repeats the word again to me, only this time better and more clear than the first time.

更進一步的實驗發現，當媽媽們的反饋是笑着重複一個相似的發音時，寶貝們會嘗試調整他們的發音，去靠近媽媽發的聲音，並且他們更願意開口了。其實我每天在家裏都能看這個現象：我兒子說一個單詞，我笑着重複一邊，接着他又再次重複給我，而這次比第一次說得更好更清晰。

Importantly, parents can also scaffold behaviors during playtime that might help their children learn new and important problem-solving skills. For example, researchers who studied how parents might help their 2-year-olds during problem solving tasks presented parent-child pairs with a set of blocks and asked them to build a tower by stacking the blocks according to their sizes. During the interactions, parents were really good at knowing when to give their children hints and instructions in order to boost the child's ability to successfully create a tower. In fact, moms were especially good at both leading their children through the task while at the same time, allowing the child to spend some time off task exploring freely.

更重要的是，家長在陪孩子玩的過程中可以幫他們學習新東西以及解決問題的重要技巧。例如：有人研究父母是怎麼幫助兩歲大的孩子解決困難的，他們讓孩子和家長一起搭建積木。過程中就發現父母都非常清楚的知道什麼時候該給孩子提示了，好讓他們能完成積木塔的搭建。 特別想說的是媽媽們，她們在知道如何幫孩子完成任務的同時，還能給孩子最夠的時間去自由的探索和發揮。 

Based on this work, it appears that parents are already pretty good at guiding children's learning during play without going out of their way or doing anything special. But, if you're feeling like you want to do a little more, there is also research demonstrating additional learning benefits when children are engaged in guided play, or play that involves the guidance of a parent.

這些研究都清晰地說明父母們知道如何寓教於樂，他們不用改變自己也不用做任何特殊的事情。當然，如果你覺得你想更加進一步，也有相關研究表明孩子在有明確的指導或指示的情況下玩耍能學習到更多。

Parents don't have to do much here either, as asking simple questions during playtime can often promote learning.

其實關於這一點作爲父母也不需要做太多額外的事情，僅僅在過程中提簡單的問題就能提高效果。

For example, research has shown that children learn more about engineering when parents asked simple open-ended questions about skyscrapers while children tried to build one with blocks.

舉例來說：學者們發現在孩子玩積木的時候被問到簡單的關於摩天大樓的開放性問題，他們就會學到更多關於工程的知識。

Similar research suggests that children learn more about the function of a new toy if parents ask the child to provide explanations for how it might work. The key here is to provide hints and ask questions to encourage children to explore, without providing too much direct instruction.

另一個相似的研究發現：當家長讓孩子解釋他們的玩具是什麼原理時，孩子們能發掘出玩具更多的功能。這裏的重點是通過給提示和提問，但是不給明確目標的方式，讓孩子自己去發掘和探索。

Indeed, children learn more by exploring themselves than by watching an adult do something for them, and they explore more if parents don't provide explicit instructions about how to use a new toy.

事實上，與觀察父母如何表現相比，孩子們通過自己動手探索的方式能學到更多；並且如果家長不給關於怎麼玩玩具的明確提示，孩子們往往更願意去研究它。

The point of all of this is that children learn by playing, and most importantly, although they can learn by playing on their own, they can often learn more when playing with someone who's smarter than them, someone like mom or dad.

總得來說，孩子們在玩的過程中學習。並且更重要的是，和比他們聰明的人一起玩，例如父母，孩子們就能學習到更多。

This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be thinking about teaching your child during playtime; again, you will likely scaffold behaviors for your child without even thinking about it.

這裏並不是說在陪孩子玩的時候要想着教他什麼，而是在你沒有察覺的情況下肯已經給孩子提供了幫助。

But by providing helpful hints and asking simple questions, parents can give children the support they need to reach their full potential: Much like the scaffolding on a building, playing with parents gives children just enough support to help them stand on their own.

當然了，如果能給他們提示，並且問一些簡單的問題，父母則是可以幫助孩子發掘他全部潛能的。就如同建房所需要的腳手架，家長陪同孩子一起玩就是給予孩子們的最大支持和幫助。