Teacher knowledge and discourse control: Quantitative evidence from novice biology teachers' classrooms

This article describes the effects of science teacher subject-matter knowledge on classroom discourse at the level of individual utterances. It details one of three parallel analyses conducted in a year-long study of language in the classrooms of four new biology teachers. The conceptual framework of the study predicts that when teaching unfamiliar subject matter, teachers use a variety of discourse strategies to constrain student talk to a narrowly circumscribed topic domain. This article includes the results of an utterance-by-utterance analysis of teacher and student talk in a 30-lesson sample of science instruction. Data are broken down by classroom activity (e.g., lecture, laboratory, group work) for several measures, including mean duration of utterances, domination of the speaking floor by the teacher, frequency of teacher questioning, cognitive level of teacher questions, and student verbal participation. When teaching unfamiliar topics, the four teachers in this study tended to talk more often and for longer periods of time, ask questions frequently, and rely heavily on low cognitive level questions. The rate of student questions to the teacher varied with classroom activity. In common classroom communicative settings, student questions were less common when the teacher was teaching unfamiliar subject matter. The implications of these findings include a suggestion that teacher knowledge may be an important unconsidered variable in research on the cognitive level of questions and teacher wait-time.     

Student behaviors, teacher reinforcement, student ability, and learning

Ninety-eight children were observed for 6-min periods on each of 10 days during 50-min, small-group classes in either mathematics, science, geography, or language usage. Two student behaviors (on-task behavior and accuracy of responding to teacher-directed questions) and three types of teacher reinforcement (verbal reinforcement for on-task behavior and accurate responding and tangible reinforcers) were coded during each observation period. A post-test of achievement, directly related to the content of the lessons, was administered at the end of the 10 days of instruction. The causal effects of student behaviors, teacher reinforcement, and student ability (reading achievement and intelligence) on achievement were evaluated using path analysis. The strongest effects were from student ability measures, with accurate responding by students and teacher reinforcement of accurate responding exhibiting smaller, but significant effects. Findings are discussed to qualify the relationship between overt classroom behaviors and degree of learning and the mediating effects of student ability.     

College classroom interaction as a function of teacher- and student-centered instruction

Regional campus college students participated in traditionally or nontraditionally taught sections of undergraduate introductory educational psychology. The nontraditional sections were student centered, involving personal goal setting and monitoring conferences, and informal group discussion tests. The traditional sections were teacher centered, involving a lecture format, formal tests and assignments, and comparative grades. An event sampling behavioral assessment procedure was used to record student and teacher behaviors according to the following verbal interaction response categories: positive, negative, questions, answers, presents, solicits, shares, generates, impedes. The course sections were analyzed and found to be comparable with regard to teachers' positive responses and information presented, as well as content acquisition and final grades. However, students in the nontraditional course section asked significantly more questions, shared more information, and generated more ideas than students in the more traditional teacher-centered course. Replication analyses supported the initial findings regarding learning and attitudinal differences favoring student centered course sections over teacher centered sections.     

COGNITIVE CONGRUENCE BETWEEN TEACHERS’ QUESTIONS AND STUDENTS’ ANSWERS

The purpose of the present study was to assess the impact of a teacher‐training workshop in a medical school upon the cognitive congruence between teachers’ questions and students’ answers. The major findings of this study were: (a) The average number of student‐teacher verbal interactions significantly exceeded the number of separate statements by teacher and students, (b) After the workshop, the number of interactions increased, especially in medium‐ and large‐size classes, (c) The extent of cognitive correspondence was greater at basic cognitive levels (knowledge, comprehension, application) than at high cognitive levels (analysis, synthesis, evaluation). This result was observed both before and after the workshop, as well as in all three class sizes, (d) Following the workshop, the cognitive congruence increased, especially in large classes and within the basic levels.     

Question Asking in the Science Classroom: Teacher Attitudes and Practices

Despite the wide agreement among educators that classroom learning and teaching processes can gain much from student and teacher questions, their potential is not fully utilized. Adopting the view that reporting both teachers’ (of varying age groups) views and actual classroom practices is necessary for obtaining a more complete view of the phenomena at hand, the present study closely examines both cognitive and affective domains of: (a) teachers’ views (via interviews) concerning: (1) importance and roles of teacher and student questions, (2) teacher responses, and (3) planning and teacher training; and (b) teachers’ actual practices (via classroom observations) concerning: (1) number and (2) level of teacher and student questions, as well as (3) teachers’ responses to questions. The data were collected from 3 elementary, 3 middle, and 3 high school science teachers and their respective classroom students. The findings lay out a wide view of classroom questioning and teachers’ responses, and relate what actually occurs in classes to teachers’ stated views. Some of the study’s main conclusions are that a gap exists between how science researchers and teachers view the role of teacher questions: the former highlight the cognitive domain, while the latter emphasize the affective domain.     

Gender differences in teacher-student interactions in science classrooms

Thirty physical science and 30 chemistry classes, which contained a total of 1332 students, were observed using the Brophy-Good Teacher-Child Dyadic Interaction System. Classroom interactions were examined for gender differences that may contribute to the underrepresentation of women in physics and engineering courses and subsequent careers. The Brophy-Good coding process allows for examination of patterns of interactions for individuals and groups of pupils. An analysis of variance of the data yielded a significant main effect for teacher praise, call outs, procedural questions, and behavioral warnings based on the sex of the student and a significant teacher-sex main effect for direct questions. Significant two-way interactions were found for the behavioral warning variable for teacher sex and subject by student sex. Female teachers warned male students significantly more than female students. Male teachers warned both genders with similar frequency. Male students also received significantly more behavioral warnings in physical science classes than female students. In chemistry classes, both male and female students received approximately the same number of behavioral warnings.     

Effects of student‐generated questions as the source of online drill‐and‐practice activities on learning

This study investigated the effects of online drill‐and‐practice activities using student‐generated questions on academic performance and motivation as compared with online drill‐and‐practice using teacher‐generated questions and no drill‐and‐practice in a student question‐generation (SQG) learning context. A quasi‐experimental research method was adopted for the purposes of this study. Six fifth‐grade classes (n = 145) participated in a weekly online activity for 5 weeks. Analysis of covariance results showed significant differences among the different treatment groups with regard to both academic performance and motivation. Post hoc comparisons using simultaneous confidence intervals, however, did not demonstrate the use of online SQG combined with answering peer‐generated questions to be more conducive to learning with regard to any of the observed variables as compared with the use of online SQG combined with answering teacher‐generated questions. Furthermore, answering student‐generated questions in addition to online SQG did not lead to added gains in learning as compared with the online SQG‐alone group. Some reasons for the unexpected findings are proposed, and the significance of this study, as well as suggestions for instructional implementations and future research, are provided.     

THE CLASS‐SIZE EFFECT UPON ACTIVITY AND COGNITIVE DIMENSIONS OF LESSONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

This study examines the effects of class size upon the verbal interactions and the cognitive level of medical instruction. The major findings of this study indicate that: (a) the percentage of the teacher's verbal activities increases with the group size; (b) the shortest teacher‐lectures are given in medium‐size classes; (c) the longest student‐answers and student initiations are observed in medium‐size classes; (d) the maximal diversity of verbal interactions is found in medium groups, while the minimal is found in large groups; (e) the percentage of interactions at the lowest cognitive level (knowledge) increases with class size; (f) longer interactions are observed in large classes at the knowledge level, and in smaller classes at the analysis and evaluation levels; (g) the minimal cognitive diversity is found in large groups; (h) both activity and cognitive total scores decrease as the class size increases. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Talking about history: discussions in a middle school inclusive classroom

In this study, we examined the nature of whole-class discussion and teachers' instruction during discussion about historical topics in one inclusive, middle-grade classroom. We videotaped and analyzed 4 lessons to determine the nature of discussion sequences, rates of participation, and instructional challenges encountered by the teacher and students. We triangulated our analysis of observational data with teacher interviews. The results showed high rates of student participation, with no differences between students with and without disabilities. The teacher initiated and controlled the discussion, and nearly all student responses were from teacher to student rather than from student to student. The teacher encountered three challenges in developing students' understanding, and we identify specific practices she used to address these challenges. Based on students' response to measures administered by project staff and on their scores on statewide tests, this teacher's practices seemed to be highly effective.     

The use of questions within in-the-moment coaching in initial mathematics teacher education: enhancing participation,reflection, and co-construction in rehearsals of practice

Managing mathematical discussion is known to be challenging for novice teachers. Coaching within student teacher rehearsals of teaching has been shown to develop mathematics teaching practice, but can be time consuming. To examine how coaching using questions could assist novice teachers to promote mathematical thinking and discussions within time-constrained programmes, videos of rehearsals, reflective debriefs, and student teacher surveys were collected across a range of courses over 4 years. Findings included that student teacher roles in rehearsals were enhanced through coaching with questions and co-construction was enabled. Coaching questions exposed effective practice, particularly in relation to orchestrating mathematical discussion, enabling student teachers to reflect, discuss, make decisions, and immediately trial teaching strategies. Questions appeared to lengthen rehearsals but improved their effectiveness through enhancing participation and enabling co-construction of meaning. Findings indicate that questions used in coaching of rehearsals inform and empower novice teachers, essential factors within initial teacher education for equitable and ambitious mathematics teaching.     

Action zone theory,target students and science classroom interactions

This study investigated the seating patterns of target students in science classrooms to see if there was an action zone or T zone present. Fifty-six physical science and chemistry classes were observed using the Brophy-Good Teacher-Child Dyatic Observation System. Target students were identified and their interactions were compared to nontarget students. Target-student interactions for direct questions and student-initiated interactions were analyzed to ascertain whether the teacher or the student determined target student status. Results indicated that no T-shaped action zone was present in the classes observed. Target students dominated class interactions and received more direct questions, teacher-afforded conversation, and sustaining feedback. Nearly one-third of all students observed in the study did not interact at all and were silent.     

Structured cognitive discussions in senior high school physics: Student and teacher perceptions

Concern with the quality of student engagement and learning in senior high school physics has been evident for many years. In this study we have focussed on student engagement. Three tasks that utilised a structured discussion, approach to learning concepts in mechanics were developed in collaborative work with two Year 11 physics teachers. These tasks demanded an initial individual response from each student, then a single response from groups of three, and then a whole class interpretive dicussion led by the teacher and based on the group responses. We report the detail of reactions of students and teachers to these tasks in the two classes taught by the teachers involved in the development of the tasks, and more general reactions from a further seven Year 11 physics classes.     

A teacher's bounded rationality in middle school science

The concept of bounded rationality was used to understand how a middle school science teacher dealt with the complexities of teaching two classes differing in levels of student achievement. The teacher constructed a mental model of teaching for her two classes based on her perceptions, beliefs, emotions, and affects about student characteristics. The teacher had the same mental model for the two classes, despite the fact that the two classes were quite different in achievement levels. Compared to the objective reality of differences between the two classes, her mental model of equal treatment seemed subjective. Her teaching behavior in the two classes was generally consistent with her mental model of teaching. The findings indicate patterns of teacher thinking and behavior that can largely be explained within the framework of bounded rationality. The findings also suggest implications for teacher change.     

Effects of extended wait time on discourse characteristics and achievement in middle school grades

The study was conducted in 20 intact classes in grades 6 and 7 from suburban schools in Perth, Australia. The study investigated changes in discourse attributable to the use of an extended teacher wait time in a sequence of seven lessons related to probabilistic reasoning. A wait time feedback group of 10 classes obtained a significantly higher summative achievement mean than a control group that utilized a normal wait time. The results indicated that teacher wait time increased significantly over a seven lesson sequence from an average of 1.9 seconds to an average of 4.4 seconds. Discourse patterns in whole class settings also changed throughout the study. Although the total number of utterances decreased, the average length of pupil utterances increased. Changes were also observed in the teacher discourse. The most notable of these related to the type of teacher talk that followed a pupil response to a question. Teachers tended to probe to obtain further pupil input rather than mimicking pupil responses. The average length of student discourse and the proportion of student reacting were significantly related to summative achievement. The results of the study have indicated that the use of an extended teacher wait time in whole class settings can improve teacher and pupil discourse characteristics. However, the changes that occur are different to those that occur when an extended wait time is used in work groups. Teachers may need to be sensitized to the differing effects of longer wait time in whole class, work group, and individualized settings.     

Writing for different audiences: Effects on high-school students' conceptual understanding of biology

Writing-to-learn activities in science classrooms can have an impact on student learning. This study sought to examine if the audience for which students write explanations of biology concepts affects their understanding of these concepts. One hundred eighteen Year 9/10 biology students from four classes participated in the study. There were four different audiences: teacher, younger students, peers, and parents. Students' writing for peers or younger students performed significantly better on conceptual questions than students writing for the teacher or the parents.     

Impact of teacher competencies on student emotions: A multi-method approach

As a consequence of international educational studies like TIMSS and PISA, quality of instruction has become a central topic in the discussion between educators, researchers, and policymakers. Teacher competencies are preconditions for instructional quality.This study focuses on the impact of perceived teacher competencies on student well-being and anxiety in physics instruction. Student emotions are one important aspect of the educational process and supposed preconditions of sustainable learning processes. In the study, we combine both qualitative and quantitative methods using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. In total, 431 students from 16 classes participated in this study: 24 students and eight physics teachers were participants of the qualitative study. Each teacher taught two classes, and therefore a comparison of the ratings of each teacher by students of two different classes was possible.The results of our study confirm the assumption that perceived teacher competencies have an impact on student emotions. Analysis of the qualitative data supports the quantitative results and demonstrates the importance of teacher competencies for student emotions. By comparing qualitative and quantitative results, we demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Consequently, we suggest a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.