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MAPLE-CR process-oriented scaffolding framework: cognitive, social-interactional, and regulatory scaffolding for AI-supported PBL

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

The article proposes a process-oriented view of scaffolding for AI-supported PBL, defining scaffolding as "structured support embedded in the learning workflow to help learners perform reasoning, interaction, and reflection activities that would otherwise require sustained tutor facilitation." MAPLE-CR instantiates three complementary scaffolding forms: cognitive scaffolding (prompts for hypothesis generation, evidence justification, revision, and synthesis), social-interactional scaffolding (simulated tutor and peer roles sustaining dialogue and externalization), and regulatory scaffolding (workflow structuring, objective-coverage monitoring, phase transitions, and feedback loops). The framework treats scalability as preserving the cognitive, dialogic, and feedback-regulatory functions that make PBL educationally meaningful rather than merely automating human labor.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Requires an LLM-supported multiagent environment with tutor, peer, evaluator, and advisor roles, a shared data and knowledge layer, and case-linked pretests and posttests aligned with learning objectives.

Constraints

  • The article notes the study did not isolate specific scaffolding effects, and simulated group-process behaviors varied across sessions, so AI is unlikely to fully reproduce the nuance of human facilitation.

Target Learners

  • First-year postgraduate medical interns (resident interns)

Learning Goals

  • Clinical reasoning
  • Diagnostic hypothesis generation and justification
  • Collaborative discussion and reflection skills

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Zhao Zhengqi, Wu Baijing, Tian Shuyuan, Hu Haigen, Hao Pengyi. (2026). Scaffolded AI-Supported Problem-Based Learning for Medical Interns: Exploratory Retrospectively Registered Randomized Controlled Evaluation With a Voluntary Feasibility Follow-Up. JMIR Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.2196/95039
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id maple-cr-process-oriented-scaffolding-framework
title MAPLE-CR process-oriented scaffolding framework: cognitive, social-interactional, and regulatory scaffolding for AI-supported PBL
description The article proposes a process-oriented view of scaffolding for AI-supported PBL, defining scaffolding as "structured support embedded in the learning workflow to help learners perform reasoning, interaction, and refl...
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-04
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — zhao-zhengqi-2026

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