Medical educators constantly make decisions on when and how to intervene. Current literature provides general suggestions about types of teacher interventions. Our study aims to specify that knowledge by describing in detail the actions teachers do when intervening, the interactional consequences of those actions, and how these relate to teacher…

Led by a premise that effective cooperative tasks play a vital role in enhancing Cognitive Engagement (CE) and task achievement in ESL/EFL teaching, this study investigates the effects of Cooperative Learning (CL) on Omani Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) students' CE and task achievement. This quasiexperimental study has three objectives: (i) To…

Small-group discussion is a central component of 21st-century biology classrooms. Many factors shape these discussions and thus influence potential learning gains. This study examined how accuracy and idea consideration shaped small-group discussions in undergraduate biology labs (12 groups, M = 42.8 talk turns). To do this, we asked: (1) Is there…

Online discussion forums are common features of learning management systems; they allow teachers to engage students in topical discussions in environments beyond physical spaces. This study presents a novel approach to operationalizing the connections between social interaction and contextual topics by visualizing posts in an online discussion…

This paper reports a research project exploring children's peer interactions in group reading discussions where a teacher was not present as an authoritative guide. This context reflects a reality of classroom teaching where most children in the class are completing tasks independently while the teacher is working other groups. In the study, four…

This article describes the practices the authors use to promote learning mathematics through social interactions that they cultivate in their classrooms throughout the year. The design of their instruction is guided by two productive discourse practices that they have found to be the most powerful. The first practice involved posing open…

Classroom talk or verbal exchanges during lesson time play a central role in students' disciplinary understanding and intellectual development. It greatly influences not only what students learn but also how they learn it. Despite this, teachers can be unaware of teacher-student talk patterns and functions; thus, what is uttered during class time…

Using a convergent parallel mixed methods design, this exploratory study examined mathematics lessons in two third-grade classrooms to analyze the mathematical classroom discourse when using tutorial instructional software. A chi-square test for independence revealed statistically significant correlations between teachers use of the focusing and…

Basic English and maths skills are crucial for Londoners to access further education and good work, and to support them to participate in their communities and improve personal wellbeing. Supporting Londoners to achieve basic skills is a priority for the Greater London Authority (GLA). However, we know that too many Londoners are without these…

Online courses frequently use discussion forums to enhance student engagement, an approach that is critical to fostering positive student learning outcomes. Because discussion forums are common in online classes, many instructors rely on summary statistics and self-reported measures to assess student engagement. However, these metrics overlook the…

Dialogic education advocates varied forms of interactional management by teachers. In the context of whole-class discussions, teachers are encouraged to both prompt student involvement through direct mediation, and "step back" to give students a greater sense of agency and responsibility for turn-taking when appropriate. However, it is…

Online discussions tend to be more effective when they are purposefully structured. In this article, we describe how the design of a photo-based protocol influenced community interactions within an online discussion in an undergraduate course. Students were asked to take and share a photo related to a course concept, respond to a peer's photo, and…

This article examines how a coding scheme for mathematics classroom discussion that was created to highlight how teachers negotiate student responses during whole-class discussion around high-level, cognitively demanding tasks was used to help teachers shift what they notice when analyzing classroom discourse. Data from an intervention that…

Asynchronous online threaded discussions are widely recognized as a tool to enhance learning in the virtual classroom. While they can serve as a mechanism for reinforcing material and promoting a deeper understanding of course content, discussion boards often lack rich and dynamic dialogue, and instead serve as a field of obligatory discourse,…

To assess the effectiveness of a cooperative learning activity, students were randomly assigned to small groups and asked to lead an online discussion. Responses to a survey administered at the completion of the course suggest that the activity was effective in meeting its goals of promoting student interaction and increasing perceived student…