Scaffolding is just another term for providing help for students so they may achieve what you want them to achieve. This means that the teacher must find the right material for the task and organize it in an accessible way. Sometimes you must build support into your planning so that the students will actually learn what you want them to learn. Inputs are any resources you use. This is what takes place in the student's head when dealing with the input.
Scaffolds help to guide the learning process.
They provide some structure for the kids when they work with the data.