Influence of Teacher Discursive Moves on Students' Relational Reasoning in Science Classrooms

• In Event: Poster Session 3
  In Poster Session: Students' Learning Strategies and Interventions

Abstract

Relational reasoning has been empirically associated with learning in academic domains. Using the TIMSS 1999 Video data, this study investigated the influence of teacher discursive moves on eighth-graders’ relational reasoning in science classrooms. Sequential analyses showed that when teachers directly prompted specific types of relational reasoning, students were more likely to follow with the types of reasoning elicited. The more general requests to compare and contrast and calls for explanation and elaboration were also effective moves to elicit students’ relational reasoning. However, modeling relational reasoning without explicitly drawing students’ attention to the relations being demonstrated was unlikely to elicit student use of relational reasoning. Findings in this study provide valuable insight into the promotion of relational reasoning within science instruction.

Authors

• Yuting Sun, University of Maryland - College Park

• Patricia A. Alexander, University of Maryland - College Park

• Hongyang Zhao, University of Maryland - College Park