Promoting Science Talk: The Teacher’s Role of Questioning in Argumentation

• In Event: Literacy and Language in STEM Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate what different questioning roles elementary teachers adopt to scaffold dialogical interaction, students’ cognitive responses, and the use of evidence for constructing and critiquing ideas for argumentative practices over time. The multiple -case study, designed as a follow-up study after a four-year professional development, revealed three salient changes: (a) teachers’ m-RTOP scores increased as they persistently implemented an argument-based inquiry approach, (b) in argumentative environments, teachers use multiple roles in establishing patterns of questioning, framing classroom interaction, and scaffolding students’ cognitive thinking, and (c) as teachers’ patterns of questioning changed, the frequency of students’ talk increased and the dialogical interaction between students and teachers became more evidence-based and connected.

Authors

• Ying-Chih Chen, University of Minnesota

• Brian Hand, University of Iowa