The+Role+of+Talk+in+a+Science+Classroom

Create a Science World of Endless Possibilities: The Role of Talk in a Science Classroom

What is Science Talk?

//"Children need time to talk, verbally or in writing, yet when time gets short, talk is what is pushed out of the curriculum first. But, for many of us, it is talk that leads to understanding and helps us process what we are learning." // ﻿-Patricia Bloem, "Correspondence Journals" While this page is constructed to specifically address the use of talk in the Science classroom, it is crucial that educators understand such discussions benefit all content-area classrooms. The role of "talk" in the classroom is of such importance. What do students do during science talk? It is not merely the idea of having students converse on a science concept. Science Talk is a carefully structured activity in which students develop cohesive, accurate, and relevant responses in reference to a particular topic. As students talk amongst each other, they begin to share ideas, debate their conflicting understandings, and develop questioning skills.

After reading, [|The Essentials of Science and Literacy: A Guide for Teachers], I was determined to learn more about what they addressed as "A Culture of Talk." The chapter explained that "scientist share data, discuss their results, debate their conclusions, and present findings" (pg. 31) Thus, just like scientists, when students "Science talk," they are able to revise, rethink, and process their ideas to enhance their cognitive development. Is it possible students learn from each other at a higher level in order to gain competency of particular science concepts? Is it possible that "science talk" could allow students to consider what they already know and compare their ideas with others in order to modify their own learning? Setting up Science Talk 

In [|Science Inquiry] classrooms, one must ensure students can participate in discussions with a clear understanding of the expectations required of them. The following are elements of a good "Science Talk" set up. 1. The classroom environment should be friendly. Students should feel free to discuss their understanding of Science concepts without fear of being ridiculed.

 2. Classroom arrangement must consist of tables or groups where students will be facing each other in a circle, if possible. No student should feel “out of the loop.”

 3. There should be a natural flow to the discussion. Students should be engaged in conversations with themselves and there peers. There is a student-to-student interaction rather than a "teacher-posed question and response" exchange.

 4. Participation should be on an equal level. No single student or teacher should dominate the discussion.

 5. Science talk is focused on a particular science concept. Students build on each other’s ideas and make connections from their prior experiences. The Role of the Teacher


 * **Set explicit norms and expectations when beginning to implement “Science Talk.”** The teacher should discuss proper edict for the implementation of good “Science Talk” and ask for student input in deciding the certain skills it may take to engage in "Science Talk." These lists of norms and expectations should be displayed in the classroom so that teachers and students could easily refer to them when discussions are not occurring properly.


 * **//Shhhh!// In order for student-to-student interaction to occur,it is most important that the teacher is an “active listener” not a “talker” in the discussions.** “Habits of asking questions one after the other, keeping the pace up, and repeating what students have said are hard to break; but if the teacher continues to dominate the airtime and the substance of a discussion, student-to student discussion is unlikely" (35).


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">**Break the “raise your hand” structure.** During “Science Talk” teachers should encourage students to become aware of letting others in the discussions without an adult or another student deciding who can contribute.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">An Example of Science Talk

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Science Talk can occur in whole-group or small-group discussions. Science Talk will provide opportunities for students to engage in discussions, which will build on students’ science learning and oral and written language development. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> In the following video, students were engaged in an assignment involving the [|carbon cycle]. In self-selected partners, they were given an index card which named a particular living or non-living object which contributed to the carbon cycle. Using a chart paper, students were challenged to reconstruct the carbon cycle from the point of view of the object they were given on the index card. In order to complete this assignment, they had to engage in "science talk" to explain their thinking and to determine the relationships they were going to construct.

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> While the students engaged in this activity, they were forced to use vocabulary, such as decomposed, to understand the relationships, which exist in the Carbon cycle. The teacher did interject, to help facilitate the understanding of the word "decomposed;" however, the students realized that they could learn a lot from their peers. Thus, students in the classroom focus on listening and participating in "Science Talk" to further develop Science concepts. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> Many of my students in the Rio Grande Valley area are English Language Learners; thus, reasons to use "Science Talk" in the classroom is even more important. Smaller groups can serve as practice time for students to get familiar with the vocabulary, use the terms within the small discussion, and prepare to participate in whole-group discussions without fear of mispronouncing Science words. Students also learn to value each other’s thinking and praise their peers when their ideas are coherent and complete.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The blog below was originally published November 30, 2010 at http://readingintheborderlands.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/we-gotta-talk-it-out/

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We Gotta Talk It Out! <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">By L. Rios <span style="cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Teachers beware! You might walk into my Science classroom and cover your ears. Well, perhaps it won’t be that noisy; however, you will find that my students are thoroughly engaged in Science discussions throughout the day. I encourage what The Essentials of Science and Literacy recommends in chapter 5: A Culture of Talk! In Science, students often lack the specialized vocabulary, have misconceptions, or do not feel confident to speak up in class even though they may have the knowledge to share. Science talk gives students many opportunities to engage in discussion as they work in small groups in order to facilitate the use of the difficult vocabulary and clarify misconceptions.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">After reading Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca, I asked my students to engage in a small discussion focusing on what they believed they would have encountered had they been on that mission to the moon.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ricky: It has holes.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kamyrn: But if the holes are there, why are the holes there?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Prudence: (softly responds) They are called craters.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ricky: I don’t know…

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Prudence: (again responds) They are called craters from the asteroids that hit the moon…

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ricky: Oh, I didn’t know that!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Prudence: …because the moon doesn’t have the Earth’s atmosphere…

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ricky & Kamryn: Atmosphere… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(My students quickly wrote down the information they gathered from their peer in their Science notebook.)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In South Texas, there are many English language learners. Among all of my students, engaging in “science talk” benefits them the most. They are able to exchange ideas within a small-group discussion, listen to the vocabulary being used, write it down for future reference, and feel confident to later participate in the whole-group discussion. From my observations of the practice of “science talk” in the classroom, I have noticed students applying their own reasoning and learning from each other. The purpose and use of “culture of talk,” as very eloquently and explicitly demonstrated in The Essentials of Science and Literacy, is crucial to students’ linguistic and cognitive development! The Essentials of Science and Literacy: A must read!

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Further Reading <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Taken from //The Essentials of Science and Literacy: A Guide for Teachers//

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Cambers, Aiden. 1996. //Tell Me: Children, Reading and Talk.// Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> This book offers guidelines and suggestions on how to support students as they learn to talk about their thinking. It describes how providing a forum for sharing thinking enables students to grapple with ideas and come to some collective understanding, which in turn leads to deeper understanding.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Chapin, Suzanne, Catherine O'Connor, and Nancy Canavan Anderson. 2003. "The Tools of Classroom Talk." In //Classroom Discussions: Using Math Talk to Help Students Learn//, //Grades// 1-6, 11-42. Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> The authors of this chapter discuss five "talk moves" - actions that teachers can take to promote constructive conversations and support mathematical thinking: revoicing, prompting students for further participation, asking students to restate someone else's reasoning, asking students to apply their own reasoning to someone else's reasoning, and using wait time. They also discuss three "talk formats" -whole-class discussion, and partner talk- along with rules for talk. The authors provide four case studies to illustrate these moves and format and to demonstrate how a culture of talk is created in the classroom.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Gambrell, Linda B., and Janice F. Almasi. 1996. //Lively Discussions: Fostering Engaged Reading.// Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> Lively Discussions // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">emphasizes why classroom discussion is important and offers specific strategies for how teachers can help students build discussion skills. Although the book focuses on reading, these are clearly skills that students can use to deepen their science learning as well. The book includes examples of children participating in discussion activities that emphasize interacting with peers and constructing meaning.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Kuhn, Leema, ad Brian Reiser. 2006. Structuring Activities to Foster Argumentative Discourse. Paper Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 7-11 April, San Francisco.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> The focus of this paper is on scientific argumentation and how classroom practices can inhibit or foster student contributions. The authors discuss the epistemological and social challenges of argumentation in the classroom and offer three design strategies that incorporate both of these elements in order to foster scientific argumentation: create a need for students to use evidence, create a need for students to argue, and make the epistemic criteria explicit. The authors then illustrate the application of these design strategies by describing their pilot study in a seventh-grade classroom.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">References <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Worth, K., Winokur, J., Davis, M., Winokur, M.H., & Crissman, S. (2009). The essentials of science and literacy: a guide for teachers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.