SCAFFOLDING IN EDUCATION RESEARCH MENTORSHIP: WHAT, WHY, AND HOW?

Abstract

Scaffolding is necessary for effective mentorship in educational research. The mentorship between the mentor and mentee in educational research is fraught with challenges that can be eliminated through scaffolding. Consequently, this research paper was conducted with the sole purpose of answering the following basic questions: what, why, and how is scaffolding done in educational research mentorship? Soliciting information from existing bodies of knowledge, scaffolding in education research mentorship enables mentors to build mentees from what they cannot do, to what they can do with help; and finally, to what they can do alone without help from a mentor in research. It involves the development of instructional plans that leads the students from the known to the unknown and the execution of the plans which provides support to the students at every step of the learning process. Scaffolding has six basic steps: providing feedback to initial probing questions; giving hints, clues or suggestions to help the mentee proceed further; instructing the mentee on what to do; explaining to provide more details or clarification; modelling to demonstrate for the mentee; and questioning to check understanding. It was concluded that scaffolding in education research mentorship enables the mentee to acquire necessary competencies in conducting research in universities and beyond. Therefore, it was recommended that scaffolding must be an integral part of education mentorship.

KEYWORDS: Education, Mentorship, Research, Scaffolding, Vygotsky’s (1978) __________________________

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Vincent Chidindu Asogwa. University of Eswatini, Luyengo Campus asovinchidi@yahoo.com