Two Kinds of Scaffolding: The Dialectical Process within the Authenticity-Generalizibility (A-G) Continuum

Recent developments of situated cognition seem to be incompatible with traditional views of school basedlearning where abstract or generalized knowledge is emphasized. In this paper, we are advocating that authenticity (as emphasized by situated cognitivists) and generalizibility (as advocated by cognitivists) are compatible. From an instructional perspective, it should not be for one or the other, but rather the scaffolding of the dialecticism between authenticity and generalizibility. In this paper, we first discuss the problems relating to the radical view of situated cognition and cognitivist approaches to learning and instruction. We then contend that authenticity and generalizibility are compatible and introduce the notion of the Authenticity-Generalizibility (A-G) continuum, where from an instructional perspective, the emphasis should be scaffolding within such a continuum. We hypothesize that learners would have richer and deeper understandings of a subject or domain when they have opportunities to experience the full range of learning activities within the A-G continuum. Finally, we proposed two kinds of IT scaffolds, one to assist student moving towards the authenticity end of the continuum and the other vice versa.