The Challenge of Enacting Productive Classroom Dialogue in Teaching Science: A Case Study

• In Event: Examining the Instruction and Learning Relationship: The Role of Teacher Knowledge, Curriculum, and Context

Abstract

Despite existing knowledge of effective teacher professional development (TPD), little is known about how teachers implement the practices learned through TPD programs in their classrooms. Developing instructional practices to support scientific argumentation in the classroom requires that teachers implement specific strategies that can be learned in TPD. This study examines one teacher’s enactment of productive dialogue in teaching science, and her perceptions of her TPD participation. This investigation involved analyzing classroom video and creating activity logs (ALs) that document the teacher’s changes in enacting practices that support classroom scientific dialogue and argumentation. The ALs allowed us to identify changes in scaffolding student engagement in dialogue, argumentation, co-construction of ideas, and critique acquired from TPD, illuminating key features of the TPD.

Authors

• Ann-Kathrin Pehmer, TU München

• Florencia Gomez Zaccarelli, Stanford University

• Hilda Borko, Stanford University

• Jonathan F. Osborne, Stanford University

• Evan J Fishman, Stanford University