'Scaffolding' is a concept that is becoming widely used across disciplines. This book investigates common threads in diverse applications of scaffolding, including theoretical biology cognitive science, social theory, science and technology studies, and human development. Despite its widespread use, the concept of scaffolding is often given short shrift; the contributors to this volume offer a more fully developed analysis of scaffolding that highlights the role of temporal and temporary resources in development broadly conceived, across concepts of culture, cognition, and evolution.