Alexis Patterson's paper researches equity in groupwork in the science classroom by looking at micro-interactions. She points to the key features of student voice, student visibility and student authority while addressing the teachers' role in creating a more equitable and productive talk in science classrooms. This forum paper aims at continuing…

This commentary dialogues with three articles that analyze the same database about science and religion discourse produced 17 years ago. Dialogues in these three articles and this commentary across space and time allow us to develop new and different understandings of the same database and situation. As part of this commentary, I discuss topics…

Received wisdom in Primary science classroom teaching advocates the use of open questions for elicitation. The socio-cultural perspective on discourse, however, leads one to question the usual classification of questioning by its grammatical formality and leads instead to an analysis of the discourse in the socio-cultural context which includes…

Describes instances in which conversation topics are audibly formulated in a classroom during a one-hour science lesson and how this task may be problematic for both participants and analysts of classroom talk. (HTH)

The role of discourse in education, specifically in the science classroom, is discussed. The discussion is based on the idea that talk in the classroom is not an end in itself but a means for inquiry, exploration, even activity, and expression of concepts. A framework for analysis of classroom discourse is outlined. In this approach, discourse is…

Describes how disability studies can be used in a medical and science writing class to critically examine the assumptions of scientific discourse. Discusses how disability studies draws on feminist, postmodern, and post-colonial theory and extends their critiques to the medicalization of disability. Discusses sample disability-related classroom…

In this paper we propose the construct of discursive identity as a way to examine student discourse. We drew from the work of Gee (2001, Review of Research in Education, 25, 99-125) and Nasir and Saxe (2003, Educational Researcher, 32(5), 14-18) to consider the multiple contexts and developmental timescales of student discursive identity…

Argues that science may be presented as a continuing effort to improve existing knowledge. Analyzes a three-month discourse by sixth graders, showing that the basic commitments enabling scientific progress can be realized in elementary schools. Suggests that people need to be able to move freely between scientific and other modes of thought to be…

Develops a multidimensional framework for analyzing an extended physics classroom interaction to understand the resources participants use, alignments they form, and meanings and context they construct. Considers how participants negotiate their positions, focusing on one resistant student and why she remains unconvinced by others' arguments and…

Teachers and students must build semantic connections between words of the text and already familiar ways of speaking, integrating the formal language of the subject into their own ways of speaking. This article demonstrates how classroom dialogue can help make textbook language part of the language of the students. (IAH)