Secondary school students talking about science: language functions, gender and interaction in small group discussions

Abstract

This research project investigates techniques for structuring discussions in secondary school science classes as a means of motivating a wider range of students to see science as interesting and personally relevant, and as a means of achieving conceptual change through exploratory talk. The project involved student discussion in three different types of groups (female, male and mixed) and with four different activity structures. Discussions were analysed to investigate whether exploratory talk could be produced, and what effect the different activity structures, task types and group structures had on the interaction produced. It was found that exploratory talk can be engineered in science classrooms by using appropriately designed small group tasks, and that this exploratory talk was used by the students to develop their knowledge and understanding of science. Students verbalised ideas, elaborated and linked ideas, and used ideas to reason logically to solve a problem. In addition, it was found that the specific structure of the activity did not have a major influence on whether or not exploratory talk was produced, but that the design of the task, the outcome of the activity and the dynamics of the group did. The interaction produced by some groups actively facilitated the exploration of ideas through talk, while in others, the style of interaction inhibited the development of exploratory talk. Gender had an important effect on the amount of cognitive, on-task talk produced, and on the distribution of this talk within the group, and also on the amount of feedback received by group members on their contributions. In the light of these findings, some of the practical implications involved in using structured discussions in science classrooms are discussed.