Investigates the nature of small-group social interactions in the mediation of children's science learning. Reports that the teacher mediated the children's small-group science learning through discourse that negotiated children's status, actions, and meaning, as well as through discourse that established the normative structure of the small…

How the processes of group interaction combine to help or hinder cognitive and affective learning in the classroom is discussed. Numerous concepts about interaction in the classroom along with the available research on those concepts expressed in practical terms are presented. Implications for teachers are emphasized. The book is designed to be…

Though the need for a language or languages to describe teacher behavior has been recognized for some time, few systems of analysis exist. A conceptual framework and a set of terms have been developed to describe the messages students and teachers send and receive in second language classrooms. This system is called FOCUS (an acronym for Foci for…