Scaffolding refers to specific supports teachers provide to assist students in reaching independent mastery of mathematics learning. It can take the form of asking questions to guide thinking, breaking a problem into smaller steps, providing more accessible numbers for problems, giving students worked examples, connecting concepts to students' prior knowledge, or pre-teaching vocabulary explicitly. Much like real scaffolding eventually comes down after the building is constructed, instructional scaffolding is meant to fade away as students become more independent in their learning. 

Check out the resources below to learn about how to integrate scaffolding into your instruction.

Instructional Scaffolding   |   Pennsylvania Department of Education

Instructional Scaffolding with Dr.  Paul Ricommini   |  Georgia Numeracy Project

Module: What is Instructional Scaffolding?   |  IRIS Center