Toward dialogue in the classroom: Learning and teaching through Inquiry

There is increasing agreement among those who study classrooms that learning is likely to be most effective when students are actively involved in the co-construction of meaning through discussion of topics that are of significance to them. This paper reports the results of an extended collaborative action research project in which teachers attempted to create the conditions for such discussion by adopting an inquiry approach to the curriculum. A quantitative comparison between observations made early and late in the teachers’ involvement in the project showed a number of significant changes in the characteristics of teacher-whole class discourse, with a shift toward a more dialogic mode of interaction. Nevertheless, the frequency of stretches of “true discussion”, as defined by Nystrand et al.(2002), remained low. When the same observations were examined qualitatively, however, there was clear evidence of an increase over time in the teachers’ success in engaging students in co-constructing accounts and explanations. The paper concludes with a reconsideration of the purpose of “dialogue” in the classroom and of teachers’ goals and strategies in trying to achieve it.ITESO, A.C

A Teacher\u27s Journey: Making Sense of How Reading Combined Text Genres Influenced Instructional Practices in a Sixth Grade Science Class

This investigation explored how the experience of literacy integration, defined as using combined text genres (traditional science textbooks, popular science articles, and Adapted Primary Literature), influenced the instructional practices of a middle school science teacher (Phillips & Norris, 2009). The combined texts were put in a hermeneutic circle within the classroom community and discussed (Eger, 1992). During the discussions the teacher monitored the students’ meaning construction processes and made metacognitive decisions about her instructional practices (Ruddell & Unrau, 2004). The participants were Melissa, a sixth grade science teacher, and ten (n=10) of her students at an academically rigorous, independent school in the southeastern United States. Classroom observations and interviews, both used as primary sources of data collection (DeWalt & DeWalt, 2002; Rubin & Rubin, 2005), were informed by other sources of data such as the collection of teacher and student artifacts and a questionnaire for the purpose of crystallization. The transcript data was transcribed, analyzed, and coded using performance/dialogic analysis. Categories from the codes were used to develop themes (Lichtman, 2013; Riessman, 2008) that were organized into a narrative that chronicled the teacher’s understanding of how the reading of combined text genres influenced her instructional practices. The findings are presented in the form of a case study (Yin, 2009). These assertions emerged from the data: (1) Melissa was able to make text visible (Lemke, 1990) and maintain an active learning environment while using minds-on instructional practices and (2) despite the tendency to compartmentalize each text genre, the teacher became metacognitive about her instructional practices. The implication is that literacy integration need not be a mystery or deterrent to science teachers (Shanahan, 1997). With the right resources, such as access to combined text genres, and through trial and error with a variety of instructional practices, teachers can successfully implement literacy integration into their classrooms

Theorizing teaching: current status and open issues

Presents practical implications for teaching and educating teachers. Examines systematically the issue of theorizing teaching. Enables collective thinking about issues that are of paramount importance in the field. This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

Investing in School Learning: The New York City Department of Education’s Learning Partners Program

It is challenging for central authorities to change the nature of teaching and learning despite great efforts to do so through both command and commitment-style approaches, as well as through recent reforms aimed at teacher quality. Capacity-building initiatives, particularly those that engage educators in structured collaboration within and across schools, hold promise for school improvement. These approaches engage educators to develop contextualized solutions to the specific obstacles facing their students. However, without certain conditions in place, particularly a strong professional community that prioritizes continuous improvement, collaborative activities are unlikely to yield positive outcomes, and instead produce variable results based on schools’ capacity pre-intervention. This dissertation explores New York City’s attempt to build schools’ capacity for improvement through the Learning Partners Program (LPP), a program developed under the Chancellor Fariña administration in 2014. LPP combines interschool collaboration, inquiry, teacher leadership, and teaming, thus providing an opportunity to explore how a district can foster the prerequisite conditions necessary for school improvement. Drawing on qualitative data from 3 years of implementation, I provide a detailed portrait of the elements of the program in practice, and describe the processes and conditions that allowed some schools in the program to implement coordinated changes that moved them towards their improvement goals. These descriptions can provide lessons to other districts interested in taking on similar “learning organization” reforms, or reforms that generally aim to shift the teaching profession towards one that fosters self-examination and continuous improvement

Children\u27s mathematical thinking in different classroom cultures

The relationship between normative patterns of social interaction and children\u27s mathematical thinking was investigated in 5 classes (4 reform and 1 conventional) of 7- to 8-year-olds. In earlier studies, lessons from these classes had been analyzed for the nature of interaction broadly defined; the results indicated the existence of 4 types of classroom cultures (conventional textbook, conventional problem solving, strategy reporting, and inquiry/argument). In the current study, 42 lessons from this data resource were analyzed for children\u27s mathematical thinking as verbalized in class discussions and for interaction patterns. These analyses were then combined to explore the relationship between interaction types and&nbsp; expressed mathematical thinking. The results suggest that increased complexity in children\u27s expressed mathematical thinking was closely related to the types of interaction patterns that differentiated class discussions among the 4 classroom cultures.<br /

Welcome to the knowledge factory? A study of working class experience, identity and learning in Irish Higher Education

This is a study of working class students’experience in Irish Higher Education. It is based on eighty one in-depth interviews with fifty one students of all ages between 2007 and 2012 gathered longitudinally in three different institutions of Higher Education in the Republic of Ireland. Using in-depth biographical interviews and grounded methods, within a critical and egalitarian theoretical framework, the main aim of the research is to offer a ‘thick’ account of working class students’ experience and, in particular, to document how they view and value education. The thesis analyses access and widening participation in Irish HE from the perspective of the interviewees. It documents that tertiary education is very highly valued and examines why this is the case through the participants’ life and learning stories. The research also explores the impact institutional differentiation is having on access and participation. The data also offer insight into the type of learning processes that are occuring in contemporary HE and elaborates a theory of reflexive learning through the interviews. This is framed within a critical synthesis of the work of Engestrom and Mezirow and a critique of the ‘reproduction and resistance’ debate as well as drawing on recent sociological work on the role of education in the making of contemporary biographies. The participants’ biographical accounts offer insight into working class experience inside and outside the walls of the university and the research suggests that shared experiences in community, family and work gives rise to distinct patterns of class (dis)identification. Based on the data and wideranging desk research-especially the work of Axel Honneth, Diane Reay, Henri Lefebvre, Andrew Sayer and Pierre Bourdieu- the thesis outlines a conceptual framework for analysing class inequality based on ownership, authority and legitimate cultural capital within a theory of social space. Furthermore, the biographical accounts of education and society gathered for the inquiry indicate that the politics of respect and recognition are crucial to understanding contemporary working class experience. A key argument of the thesis is that class analysis, social science and educational scholarship needs to develop a more sophisticated set of theoretical tools for exploring the normative nature of social practice and in particular the affective, embodied experience of class inequality inside and outside education

Integrated agriscience and career awareness curriculum for elementary and middle school utilizing school gardens

Agriculture is a one billion dollar industry in the state of California, yet science and agriculture are overlooked in elementary and middle schools. Instead, an emphasis is placed on writing, reading, and math, subjects that are tested at the state level. As a result, fourth and eighth graders in California placed 38th out of 41 in a National Science Assessment Test. In the spring of 2003, science will be included in the statewide test; therefore, elementary and middle school will have to address the subject of science and its impact on the school day. In 2002 the California State Board of Education approved a new California Science Framework, which suggests implementing an integrated approach to teaching science in the classroom

Integrated STEM and STEM Partnerships: Teaching and Learning

The overall focus of this Special Issue is on educational spaces relating to integrated STEM and interdisciplinary partnerships that might occur in integrated STEM spaces. These educational spaces include formal and informal schooling and include studies involving collaborative work teams, pre-service, in-service teachers, STEM faculty experiences, pre-collegiate students, interdisciplinary education, science education, technology education, engineering and computer science education, and mathematics education. The purpose of this Special Issue is to bring together a showcase of current studies in integrated STEM and related partnership work in teaching and learning. The newly released Handbook of Research on STEM Education (Johnson, Mohr-Schroeder, Moore, and English, 2020) explores areas of STEM in an international context and sets the stage for this Special Issue. The articles included show perspectives from around the globe