Improving the Content of Students Scientific Discussions

Nicholas Verbanic

Abstract: Students were going off topic instead of focusing their discussions in class. Many students ended up talking with
one another about concerns outside of the class rather than what they were doing in class. This prompted a change to be made
in the classroom. This change ended up including discussion prompts to help students better discuss with one another.
Students were observed and evaluated using video recording, a written response portion and the use of Field Instructor notes.
Students wrote more in-depth answers than what they told their peers. In the future, it would be beneficial to introduce these
classroom discussion norms at the beginning of the year rather than halfway through the school year.

Problem: Students were talking beyond what they were supposed to be during discussion times. The discussions were
not science centered and students didnt have productive talk with one another. Students were discussing about things
happening outside of the classroom rather than what they are doing in class.

Hypothesis 1: Students are Hypothesis 2: Students might be Hypothesis 3: Students are not
hesitant to share their ideas in resisting discussion to remove sure how to productively discuss
front of their peers, so they shift themselves from the class and with one another in the science
to a different conversation avoid being wrong. classroom.

I chose the hypothesis of instructing students on how to productively discuss because it is something theyve already
done in their other classrooms. I discussed with other teachers about how they introduced discussion in the classroom
and tried to model something students were already used to. This could improve students focus on the discussion at
hand rather than discussions focused on something outside of class. I knew students had used this discussion method in
their other classes. I thought it would be beneficial to use something students are familiar with currently. This
hypothesis seemed the most appropriate to fix as the students had been sharing their ideas through the entire year.

Action Plan: Preparing for in-class discussion will be prompted by a question at

the front of the classroom. I will ask students How do you have a productive Observation Tools:
discussion in your other classes? Students will tell their neighbors what they do in 1. Field Instructor Notes
other classrooms and then bring it forward to the rest of the classroom in an open
class discussion. Students will tell me what their other teachers do to incorporate them My field instructor took notes on
in discussions. After this discussion about what students do in their other classrooms, the in class discussion of a lesson.
I will write down what they said on the board. This discussion should include students
2. Written Student Responses
talking about the types of words or phrases they use in discussions in their other
classes. Students wrote down what they
told their peers during the
The next day, I will review with students on the classroom discussion prompts they
discussion.
talked about the day before. I will reintroduce the list generated from the discussion
the day before to the classroom. Students will then be prompted with the question 3. Class Video Recording
How does an airbag work? Students will be asked to write down what was said in
their discussions with their neighbors. Once this discussion is complete, they will turn Recording of one class during
in their discussion sheets to me and we will move on to a lab where they will be discussion time.
creating their own airbags in the chemistry lab. Students will wrap up the day with a
final discussion to see how they planned their airbag investigations.
Evidence
After completing the discussion in class, I evaluated students discussions in
their groups. I reviewed the video of students and evaluated the group
discussions. I recorded one group of four students to try and evaluate their
performance in the discussion based lesson. Students in the group seemed
distracted by the video recording as they were observed making gestures
towards the camera when they thought they had the correct answer. The
camera portion showed students continuing to discuss about what they
were doing after school or during lunch rather than what they were doing in
class.
The review of the written portion of the discussion based lesson was clearer
as to how students were understanding what they were doing in class.
Figure 1 Students sit in groups of 4 with a table Students wrote more quality responses than what I noticed happening in
partner next to them. Students were expected to the classroom. Students had more in-depth responses, such as the quote
discuss with these table partners and groups during
our discussion lesson. mentioned below. Students wrote out what their neighbors were saying
rather than just stating their opinions to the classroom. This portion of the
discussion allowed for students to write down everything instead of telling the rest of the class what their opinions were. In
addition to allowing students to write everything out, it was also apparent they had more in-depth thoughts than they were
presenting to the class.
Finally, my field instructor evaluated how students participated in classroom discussions. I had him observe me teaching a
similar lesson which required discussions. My field instructor noticed students were very good at having conversations with
each other; however, he noticed their content discussions did not last very long at all. My field instructor said he saw students
who were comfortable talking with each other but not
really talking about what were doing in class. My field I think there is a chemical The students clearly feel
instructor confirmed what I was seeing in the video reaction taking place. My comfortable talking with
recording of my students discussions. I believe this neighbor didnt agree with each other, but they could
additional viewpoint was extremely worthwhile to me. They said it was from use some more inquiry-
evaluate the rest of my evidence I collected from the air in the crash based discussions to
students. It helped me further evaluate improvements Student Response to the improve their science
to my lessons to build high leverage practices into my prompt How does an knowledge. Field
own classroom. airbag inflate Instructor response

Reflection
I plan on improving my ability to lead discussions in the classroom. This project has given me the opportunity to reflect on
what Ive done thus far in terms of discussion in the science classroom. In addition to the opportunity for reflection, it has
helped me become a better teacher overall.
This project taught me a lot about how to be an instructor in the science classroom.
As a teacher, I have learned I need to be flexible and develop my high-leverage practice skill of scientific discussions
Discussion-based lessons are centered around a phenomenon for students to discuss with one another, which is what
the Next Generation Science Standards are currently implementing
Students need more guidance before discussions occur, specifically classroom norms beforehand
In the future, I hope to improve on the following aspects of my lessons:
I would like to focus on High Leverage Practices beyond orchestrating scientific discussion, specifically improving my
abilities to assess student understanding
Using the skills Ive developed over this project, I want to implement discussions and inquiry much more in my
lessons
Finally, I would like to make Improvements to classroom management theory to develop discussion norms