Discussions that Guide Student Thinking

These authors present three types of discussions that promote student thinking. These three are brainstorming, synthesizing, and sense-making discussions. By reading the article one learns ... See More

These authors present three types of discussions that promote student thinking. These three are brainstorming, synthesizing, and sense-making discussions. By reading the article one learns the content for these discussions, a description of each and some prompts that would lead to each type of discussion. In reality most effective discussions are a combination of all three and the authors provide a sample of such as situation. Talking is an essential part of socializing and an accepted way of transmitting information. This is an interesting article for a high school science classroom.

Talking the Talk To Promote Science Discussiions

This article provides explicit instruction to improve teachers’ questioning skills and enable them to facilitate better science discussions. The authors use three types of discussions to pr... See More

This article provides explicit instruction to improve teachers’ questioning skills and enable them to facilitate better science discussions. The authors use three types of discussions to promote students’ thinking. They are brainstorming, synthesizing, and sense making. Discussions promote debate and allow students opportunities to persuade others as they provide evidence for their points of view. Being able to ask probing questions that encourage students to use higher level thinking skills is something teachers can learn to do better. This article models how to ask questions and facilitate discussions that will enhance student learning during scientific inquiries. A chart is included that highlights the three types of discussions and provides questioning prompts for teachers to try.