Teacher Factors That Support Student Discourse and Thinking in the Context of Learning Labs Professional Development

• In Event: Innovative Models in Teacher Education for Social Studies Discussions

Abstract

Objectives and Frame
We explore Learning Labs for Social Studies (LLSS), a professional development (PD) model adapted from mathematics (Kazemi et al., 2018) to facilitate and understand teacher thinking and practices that promote high-quality student discourse and evidence-based thinking. LLSS is a site-embedded approach to PD in which teachers gather at one school to learn new ideas, co-plan, collectively co-teach in one teacher’s classroom, and reflect on student learning. These “learning cycles” (McDonald, et al., 2013) embedded in LLSS support teachers’ learning as they share responsibility for student learning and actively participate with colleagues in work that aligns with their everyday demands (Desimone et al., 2015).

We focus on the role of a one-year LLSS program as teachers learn to support student discourse and evidence-based thinking when using a common social studies inquiry-oriented curriculum. We investigate relationships between teachers’ instructional practices, teachers’ thinking, and students’ classroom discourse and evidence-based thinking. We specify instructional practices and teacher thinking associated with high-quality student discourse and thinking, and how the LLSS PD context may support such learning.

Method
We used design-based research (Brown, 1992) to develop LLSS PD with the goal of supporting social studies inquiry teaching that centers student talk and thinking. We draw data from four middle school teachers and students from one class each. Three teachers participated in six LLSS sessions; one teacher did not. All participated in monthly virtual meetings.

Our mixed methods case study design uses classroom video recordings to measure classroom-level student discourse (length, quality, disciplinary focus, student participation) and a pre/post written measure of students’ evidence-based thinking. We analyzed the video to assess teachers’ instructional practice using the PLATO for Social Studies protocol adapted from ELA (Grossman et al., 2013). We analyze teacher thinking by applying research-based codes to interviews, surveys, and PD transcripts (Author, 2022).

Findings and Significance
Regular and consistent uptake of student ideas, asset-orientations, and respect for students’ epistemic agency support robust student discourse and thinking. For two of three participating teachers, LLSS PD in combination with an inquiry-oriented curriculum supports these teacher factors.

While using the inquiry-oriented curriculum without LLSS, one teacher had moderate student participation in periodic discussions and no significant gains in evidence-based thinking. Although his thinking aligned with teachers whose students were more successful, his instructional practices did not. In contrast, two teachers who participated in LLSS while using the curriculum had high-quality student discourse throughout inquiries and significant growth in students’ evidence-based thinking. LLSS did not appear to significantly shift the fourth teacher’s practice/thinking, nor his students’ discourse/thinking; deficit thinking and controlling agency over knowledge construction dominated his data.

LLSS corresponds with productive teacher thinking and practice for some; further study is warranted to investigate how LLSS could shift resistant teacher thinking/practice. Linking student outcomes to teachers’ instructional practice/thinking exposes nuances in teacher factors that facilitate student discourse and thinking, and how LLSS supports these teacher factors.

Authors

• Chauncey Monte-Sano, University of Michigan

• Amanda B. Jennings, University of Michigan

• Mary J. Schleppegrell, University of Michigan