From: jimruttshow8596
Scaffolding, broadly understood as a form of constraint, plays a crucial role in guiding development, enabling complex processes, and influencing behavior within various dynamic systems, including biological and cognitive ones [01:04:05].
Defining Scaffolding as a Constraint
Traditionally, scaffolding refers to external, temporary architectural structures that guide the construction of new buildings [01:04:09]. However, within the context of complex adaptive systems, scaffolding is conceptualized as a type of context-sensitive constraint [01:04:26]. These are conditions and factors that influence a system away from independence, linking elements together [01:04:29].
How Scaffolds Function
Scaffolds function by providing a “temporary equilibrium point” from which the next step in a process can be taken [01:05:01]. They can be thought of as “ratchets” [01:05:07]. Similar to catalysts, scaffolds do not necessarily provide energy themselves, but they “literally lower the activation energy for something to occur” [01:06:41]. They control the relationships between the internal and external environments, and the direction of subsequent actions [01:06:03].
Scaffolding in Living and Cognitive Systems
The concept of scaffolding extends beyond physical structures to describe processes in biological and cognitive development:
- Cognitive Extension: The “4E approach” to cognitive science (emphasizing embodied, enacted, extended, and embedded aspects of mind) suggests that the mind extends beyond the boundaries of the brain to include artifacts and tools [01:19:30]. For example, when driving a car, a driver may feel the car as an extension of themselves, knowing exactly where it will fit in a tight space [01:20:32]. This integration of the tool (car) into the cognitive process is a form of scaffolding.
- Skill Acquisition: When teaching a child to parallel park, the external guidance and the context of the car’s interaction with the environment act as scaffolds, enabling the development of a complex skill [01:20:19].
- Cultural Context: The way a mind is enacted is deeply intertwined with behavior within a particular cultural context [01:20:54]. For instance, a tatami mat affords sleeping in Japanese culture, and a Victorian throne enacts seating, but these “affordances” are not automatic; they are part of a coherent ecosystem or dynamic shaped by a specific set of constraints [01:21:27].
Beyond Temporary: Embedded Scaffolds
While many scaffolds are temporary, others become an integral part of the structure or system they help to build:
- Gothic Cathedrals: Flying buttresses, initially serving a scaffolding-like function, ultimately become a permanent part of the cathedral’s structure [01:06:49].
- Bone Growth: Lattices embedded with nutrients can promote bone growth. The location and direction of holes in the lattice pattern the bone growth, and the lattice itself may eventually be absorbed and become part of the bone [01:07:01].
These examples illustrate that scaffolding, as a form of constraint, represents ways of “affecting consequences” that are not solely based on efficient causes, but rather on shaping possibilities and facilitating transitions within a system [01:07:31].