Analyzing science teachers’ support of dialogic argumentation using teacher roles of questioning and communicative approaches

The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers use different types of discourse to support dialogic argumentation. Dialogic argumentation is a collaborative process in which students construct arguments together and examine arguments presented by their peers. Science teachers can use argumentation as a vehicle to help students gain a working understanding of science content and the nature of science and its practices. Whole-class closing discussions from video-recorded lessons are analyzed to study the discourse used to support argumentation by two physics teachers in lower secondary schools. Analysis of discourse includes coding of communicative approach at the episode level and coding of teacher roles of questioning at the level of speaking turns. Student argumentation is also assessed on the basis of dialogicity and complexity of arguments. Findings characterize different ways of orchestrating argumentative discussions. Authoritative episodes were characterized by the presence of the dispenser role, with teachers retaining ownership over ideas and classroom activities to emphasize the correctness of a justification. Dialogic episodes of classroom interaction showed openness to student perspectives, but teachers’ use of questioning roles revealed different ways of orchestrating argumentative discussions. The moderator role granted ownership of ideas to students to either pursue a single student’s argument in more depth or to directly contrast opposing justifications. Less commonly used were the roles of coach and participant, which teachers used to elicit student justifications in more depth or support students in examining the arguments of their peers. Examination of discourse using multiple frameworks revealed differences in teachers’ values and the impact of the use of teacher questioning roles on student contributions to argumentative discussions

The automatic analysis of classroom talk

The SMART SPEECH Project is a joint venture between three Finnish universities and a Chilean university. The aim is to develop a mobile application that can be used to record classroom talk and enable observations to be made of classroom interactions. We recorded Finnish and Chilean physics teachers’ speech using both a conventional microphone/dictator setup and a microphone/mobile application setup. The recordings were analysed via automatic speech recognition (ASR). The average word error rate achieved for the Finnish teachers’ speech was under 40%. The ASR approach also enabled us to determine the key topics discussed within the Finnish physics lessons under scrutiny. The results here were promising as the recognition accuracy rate was about 85% on average

Assessment conceptions of Finnish pre-service teachers

The aim of this quantitative survey study (N = 287) was to investigate the assessment conceptions of three different pre-service teacher groups (classroom teachers, subject teachers and special needs teachers). Assessment conceptions were best described by the following three main factors: 1) assessment of learning, 2) assessment for teaching and learning and 3) assessment as a harmful action. These main factors were clustered into three assessment conception profiles – assessment-cautious, assessment-positive and assessment-critical. Pre-service special needs teachers showed more assessment-oriented conceptions emphasising both the assessment of learning and assessment for learning than the other pre-service teacher groups. However, within every pre-service teacher group, the existing assessment conceptions varied from assessment-positive to assessment-cautious and even assessment-critical. The results are discussed to suggest development in teacher education.</p

A multidimensional adapted process model of teaching

In the present study, we aimed to specify the key competence domains perceived to be critical for the teaching profession and depict them as a comprehensive teacher competence model. An expert panel that included representatives from seven units providing university-based initial teacher education in Finland carried out this process. To produce an active construction of a shared understanding and an interpretation of the discourse in the field, the experts reviewed literature on teaching. The resulting teacher competence model, the multidimensional adapted process model of teaching (MAP), represents a collective conception of the relevant empirical literature and prevailing discourses on teaching. The MAP is based on Blömeke et al.’s, Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 223, 3–13, (<a title="Blömeke, S., Gustafsson, J., & Shavelson, R. (2015). Beyond dichotomies: Competence viewed as a continuum. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 223, 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000194 ." href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11092-021-09373-9#ref-CR14">2015) model which distinguishes among teacher competences (referring to effective performance of teachers’ work), competencies (knowledge, skills, and other individual competencies underlying and enabling effective teaching), and situation-specific skills of perceiving, interpreting, and making decisions in situations involving teaching and learning. The implications of the MAP for teacher education and student selection for initial teacher education are discussed. </p

Exploring coherence and authorship in pedagogical link-making in science

Despite rapid changes in education, science classrooms will remain central forums where fragmented pieces of information are brought together to construct coherent knowledge as concepts and explanatory scientific storylines. There is limited work stressing the importance of the interplay between how content is communicated through pedagogical link-making and the use of communicative approaches. Even less research addresses the role of coherence in this process. In this study, through exploring three cases of teachers teaching the same topic, we will bring forth differences on how links between past and to be learned scientific knowledge are made. We look at how authorship – whether teacher or students make the links – is related to students cognitively and emotionally engaged with the discussion. Besides revealing differences in these aspects, communicational coherence was found manifesting in different levels in the examples. Based on the findings, we discuss the role of communicational coherence and pedagogical link-making in meaningful learning of science.peerReviewe

How to Link Teacher Education to Educational Research

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The connection between forms of guidance for inquiry-based learning and the communicative approaches applied : a case study in the context of pre-service teachers

Recent research has argued that inquiry-based science learning should be guided by providing the learners with support. The research on guidance for inquiry-based learning has concentrated on how providing guidance affects learning through inquiry. How guidance for inquiry-based learning could promote learning about inquiry (e.g. epistemic practices) is in need of exploration. A dialogic approach to classroom communication and pedagogical link-making offers possibilities for learners to acquire these practices. The focus of this paper is to analyse the role of different forms of guidance for inquiry-based learning on building the communicative approach applied in classrooms. The data for the study comes from an inquiry-based physics lesson implemented by a group of five pre-service primary science teachers to a class of sixth graders. The lesson was video recorded and the discussions were transcribed. The data was analysed by applying two existing frameworks—one for the forms of guidance provided and another for the communicative approaches applied. The findings illustrate that providing non-specific forms of guidance, such as prompts, caused the communicative approach to be dialogic. On the other hand, providing the learners with specific forms of guidance, such as explanations, shifted the communication to be more authoritative. These results imply that different forms of guidance provided by pre-service teachers can affect the communicative approach applied in inquiry-based science lessons, which affects the possibilities learners are given to connect their existing ideas to the scientific view. Future research should focus on validating these results by also analysing inservice teachers’ lessons.peerReviewe