A research team at the University of Cologne examined how optional support influences students' learning success and motivation in secondary biology education. This support can be used voluntarily whenever learners feel they need it, such as through task-related prompts, examples of solution paths, or complete solutions. The findings show that optional support is mainly used by the students who need it most, making it a potentially effective tool for individualized support. However, using optional support alone is not enough to fully address initial differences in prior knowledge. The study, "Effectiveness and use of optional scaffolds: an intervention study in biology lessons on phylogenetic trees," was published in the International Journal of Science Education and offers new insights for designing inclusive science instruction.
The study involved 108 upper secondary school students from various grammar schools (Gymnasium) in North Rhine-Westphalia and compared three types of optional support: incremental scaffolds with prompts and worked-out examples, prompts only, and worked-out examples only. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. Their knowledge, self-efficacy, and motivation were measured before and after the intervention using questionnaires. Surprisingly, there were no significant differences in learning outcomes or motivation among the three support types.
"Our results indicate that learners with less prior knowledge and lower self-confidence specifically utilize the support provided," explains Roxanne Gutowski, the first author of the study from the Institute of Biology Education. "This suggests that students can accurately assess their personal need for support and that voluntary learning aids can address individual learning needs."
Dr Jörg Großschedl, a professor at the institute and the corresponding author, adds: "Adaptive scaffolds like these can reduce the workload of teachers because they make it easy to address varying skill levels within a single class. However, students must also know when and how to use such support effectively. Our study shows that this is indeed possible."
The study also found that students who did not use any of the optional support had greater prior knowledge, stronger self-efficacy, and higher intrinsic motivation. A follow-up study will now explore how to design optional support to further enhance knowledge acquisition.
