THE EFFECT OF SCAFFOLDED VIGNETTE INSTRUCTION ON STUDENT MASTERY OF SUBJECT MATTER

Abstract

Vignettes have long been used as a tool to model, teach, and research behavior and understanding as well as to stimulate discussion and problem solving in learning situations. The growing body of research on vignettes as an instructional and assessment tool to enhance recognition, recall, and transfer of subject matter knowledge suggests that the effectiveness of vignettes is due in part to its use as a scaffolding tool during instruction. This article summarizes an analysis of the effects of vignette instruction on vignette quiz performance in three sections of a blended graduate educational psychology course. Eight instructional vignettes administered to two sections and eight traditional scaffolding activities completed by the third section represented the only difference in the intervention. Study results suggest that vignette instruction provides efficient near-transfer opportunities and richer scaffolding experiences on student mastery of subject matter than does instruction without vignettes, regardless of whether the scaffolding is conducted in class or online or whether the vignette tasks involve solving a problem or evaluating a solution to a problem in a hypothetical teaching situation.