Can I Build on That?

Classroom talk is frequently limited, often used to check student comprehension rather than develop thinking. In classrooms with higher numbers of students living in poverty, teachers talk more and students talk less (Lingard, Hayes, and Mills 2003), positioning students as passive learners, which i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science and children 2019-11, Vol.57 (4), p.26-31
Main Authors: Mercier, Alison, Metzger, Salem, Blankmann, Dearing, Carlone, Heidi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classroom Communication
Classroom discussion
Classrooms
Critical Thinking
Discussion (Teaching Technique)
Economically Disadvantaged
Educational Facilities Improvement
Elementary School Students
Engineering
Grade 1
Hands on Science
Learner Engagement
Learning
Opportunities
Science education
Science Instruction
Shapers
Story Reading
Student Participation
Students
Teaching Methods
Thinking Skills
Urban Schools
Vignettes
Water
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Summary:Classroom talk is frequently limited, often used to check student comprehension rather than develop thinking. In classrooms with higher numbers of students living in poverty, teachers talk more and students talk less (Lingard, Hayes, and Mills 2003), positioning students as passive learners, which is problematic to developing critical thinking. Over two months, the authors' research team observed the materials engineering unit, "A sticky situation: Designing walls" (Engineering is Elementary [EiE] 2008), in which students capitalized on multiple opportunities to develop critical thinking through talk. These 15 students (nine African American, six Latinx; 12 female, three male) and their teacher, from an urban, economically disadvantaged school, engage in the unit as they read a storybook featuring a character in China who protects her garden from rabbits, investigate the properties and purposes of earth materials, and use some combination of sand, soil, clay, and water to create a "good" mortar. As students engage in this unit, they are regularly afforded opportunities to expand their thinking through student-engaged talk. Herein, the authors highlight three epistemological messages effective in promoting student-engaged talk and critical thinking throughout this engineering unit. Next, they provide examples of the teacher delivering these messages and students applying the meaning in discussion.
ISSN:0036-8148
1943-4812
DOI:10.2505/4/sc19_057_04_26