有至少8个脚手架的特点：
1）脚手架提供了明确的方向
基于Web的科研单位提供了一步一步的指示，解释正是学生必须做的，为了满足对学习活动的期望。 教学设计者尝试预见任何问题或不明朗因素，书面的方式，最大限度地减少混乱，将学生的清晰度和速度向生产力的学习溢价用户友好的方向。
这里的经营理念是“特富龙的教训，”一个学习的经验，已提前做好测试任何可能出问题，所以被认为是提前淘汰如果可能的话。
我们不希望我们的学生游荡像沙漠上的勘探者约。
2）脚手架澄清目的
“我们为什么要这样做呢？”
棚架保持在前列的目的和动机。 而不是提供了一个更空如学校仪式的国家报告，脚手架教训渴望意义和价值。 围绕基本问题，的脚手架有助于保持的“大画面”在中央和重点。
“我们正在研究这个问题，因为它是人类的核心。”
没有“平凡的追求”。
让学生在对早期的秘密。 他们被告知为什么是很重要的问题，问题或决定，并敦促他们关心。 他们不陷入简单的收集或收集。 他们没有赶上在无意识的活动陷阱。 他们的工作仍然针对性和planful。 每次，他们的行为，它是服务的思想过程中，发现的意义和发展的有识之士。
传统的学校的研究放在后收集过分强调，而需要不断进行排序和筛选，作为一个“令人费解”的过程的一部分 - 结合新的信息与先前的理解，构建新的脚手架。 学生增加，扩大，完善和制定。 它仿佛他们正在建设的桥梁更深，更聪明，更精明的任何真理重要的问题，或手头的问题的看法，从他们的成见。
3）脚手架使学生在任务
通过为学习者提供了一个途径或路线，脚手架的教训是有点像一个山区公路的护栏。 学习者可以行使极大的个人决定，但在参数是不是在“越野”搁浅的危险。 每个学生或学生团队要求沿路径移动的时间，步骤，广泛概述。 无需徘徊，迷路或绊倒。 学生可以“曲线”，而不必担心边缘。
这是一个明确的方向可能只是很容易被印在纸上的问题多。 基于Web的教训提供旅程的每一步重合的结构和指导。 活动的进展，但在同一时间控制是解放。 学生移动通过像花园里的东西，每个网页的标志石头一样。 可能有超过一个徘徊在花园的路径，但它们都没有进入丛林或沼泽或虎坑导致的。
4）脚手架提供评估，以澄清期望
从一开始，脚手架的经验教训提供别人做质量工作的例子。 Right from the beginning, students are shown rubrics and standards that define excellence. In traditional school research, students were often kept in the dark until the product was completed. Without clearly stated criteria, it was difficult to know what constituted quality work.
Is it a matter of length? the number of sources cited?
Does originality count?
Does the logic and coherence of my argument matter?
What constitutes adequate evidence?
There are a dozen issues, all of which deserve attention and elaboration. As an example, consider the online rubrics for successful multimedia reports available at http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/cep/midlink/rub.multi.htm
5) Scaffolding points students to worthy sources
Most educators complain that the Internet suffers from a low “signal to noise ratio” – the confusing, weak and unreliable information (noise) outweighs and threatens to drown out the information most worthy of consideration. Wary of wasting time, teachers have little tolerance for “data smog” and “Infoglut.” They want to see students putting their energy into interpretation rather than wandering.
Scaffolding identifies the best sources so that students speed to signal rather than noise. Looking for the best Web sites on Columbus, Drake or Magellan to decide which would have been a better leader, the scaffolded lesson created by fifth grade teacher, Gretchen Offutt, identified 4-5 sites for each captain.
Explorer Homeport
Knowing that the Web is filled with sites not worth visiting because of quality, bias or reading level concerns, the teacher visits 100+ sites per captain before winnowing the list down to 4 or 5 per captain.
Does this mean the student has no options? It depends upon the teacher. And it depends upon the school. In some cases, students must stick to the sources pre-selected by the teacher. In other cases, the student may use these sites as a starting point, extending further out into Cyberspace in search of something unusual. The scaffolding serves as an introduction, not as a corral.
6) Scaffolding reduces uncertainty, surprise and disappointment
The operating design concept for scaffolded lessons is the “teflon lesson” – no stick, no burn and no trouble. Lesson designers are expected to test each and every step in the lesson to see what might possibly go wrong. The idea is to eliminate distracting frustrations to the extent this is possible. The goal is to maximize learning and efficiency. Once the lesson is ready for trial with students, the lesson is refined at least one more time based on the new insights gained by watching students actually try the activities.
7) Scaffolding delivers efficiency
If done well, a scaffolded lesson should nearly scream with efficiency. Teachers and students should shake their heads in disbelief.
“It felt like we completed ten hours of work in just two!”
“How did we get so much done?”
This perception is achieved, in part, by virtue of comparison with the old kind of school research that was mostly about wandering and scooping. Boredom fed by irrelevance slowed the passage of time. It took forever to get the job done.
Scaffolded lessons still require hard work, but the work is so well centered on the inquiry that it seems like a potter and wheel. Little waste or wobbling. Scaffolding “distills” the work effort. Focus. Clarity. Time on task. The student is channelled. No mud flats, shoals or other navigational hazards.
Scaffolding creates momentum
In contrast to traditional research experiences, throughout which much of the energy was dispersed and dissipated during the wandering phases, the channelling achieved through scaffolding concentrates and directs energy in ways that actually build into momentum. It is almost like an avalanche of thoughts, accumulating insight and understanding.
In resolving the dissonance described in Chapter 4, “Students in Resonance,” the work gathers speed. The drive toward meaning is accelerated. The essential question and its subsidiary questions create suction, drive, urgency and motivation. The search for understanding inspires and provokes. One loses sleep. One awakens in the middle of the night, wondering, pondering, considering
