Assisted learning, or guided participation in
the classroom, requires scaffolding—understanding the
students’ needs; giving information, prompts, reminders,
and encouragement at the right time and in the right
amounts; and then gradually allowing the students to do
more and more on their own. Teachers can assist learning
by adapting materials or problems to students’ current
levels, demonstrating skills or thought processes, walking
students through the steps of a complicated problem,
doing part of the problem, giving detailed feedback and
allowing revisions, or asking questions that refocus students’
attention.