Qualitative research continues to demonstrate a majority white, female, middle-class teaching force is struggling to effectively teach an increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse U.S. student population (Hollins & Guzman, 2005; Nieto, 2000). As a result, teacher education incorporates multicultural education/diversity coursework to…

Teacher talk is a powerful pedagogical tool in the science classroom. Educators use their talk to provide information, guide discussions, check for understanding, and develop students' scientific identities. However, few researchers have investigated how teachers use their talk during an integrated science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)…

The art of teaching and learning mathematics is rooted in the discourse that takes place between the teacher and students and among students. This discourse creates understanding, recognition of confusion, and corrections that lead to forward progress in learning. However, the type of discourse that occurs in mathematics today differs greatly from…

This research is a self-study of a university required diversity course taught with a queer literacies framework. My research examines student writing, class discussion, and course planning material for one section of a required diversity course at a 4-year university in the Mountain West. The research questions for this study are "What…

With the goal of investigating social construction of mathematics, analysis of classroom discourse is presented from the theoretical perspective of Distributed Cognition and the methodological perspective of cognitive micro-ethnography (Hutchins, 1995a, 2001). Twenty-nine students from two accelerated, sixth-grade mathematics classes were observed…

Qualitative interviews can be enhanced through using creative methods within them to prompt discussion and conversation. The research project upon which this case focuses sought to explore the space between policy and practice in pre-entry widening participation work in universities. This is an area where often people focus on telling you about…

This qualitative embedded, single-case study examined the perceptions and experiences of four secondary-level preservice teachers leading whole class discussions in education classes in a private Midwestern college. Despite the research on the importance of dialogic instruction, preservice teachers are inadequately prepared to facilitate…

This qualitative grounded theory study applies Discourse Analysis (DA) to focus on the student-to-student (SS) "productive conversation" occurring within groups engaged in several activities in a physical science laboratory with a goal to identify aspects and patterns of such conversation. In this study, Student-to-Student Productive…

Online discussions have been proliferating in US higher education. Due to its widespread incorporation into university courses, instructors have been making efforts to design effective online discussions to enhance student learning. Ground rules play an important role in regulating student behaviors and performance in online discussions. This…

Discussion forums are often a primary tool used for teaching and learning in asynchronous online courses. In this article, the author shares her experiences using discussion forums to promote learning, teacher presence, and community. In a retrospective microanalysis of discussion forums posts and interactions, the author identified five major…

The purpose of this study is to discuss about utilization of Whatsapp application as discussion media in Blended Learning. This study sought to integrate learning technologies to improve the quality of student's learning. Messenger application is used to communicate synchronously, so it can be positioned as a discussion media. This study focused…

Background: An extensive and international evidence base positions professional learning communities (PLCs) as an effective continued professional development (CPD) mechanism that can impact on teachers' practices and, in turn, students' learning. The landscape of teacher PLCs is continuously developing; notably through teachers' uses of social…

The Wisconsin Master Gardener Program team used the Google+ Community platform to provide an engaging online discussion forum for asynchronous continuing education experiences. Applications of such a tool for volunteer online education have numerous benefits, including the capacity for asynchronous posting, ease of posting, privacy options, wide…

This research explores White teachers' reflections around race talk, surfacing their interests in engaging students in conversations about race as well as their hesitations. The five participating teachers had volunteered for a unique program that connected classrooms in urban de facto segregated schools for the enactment of common projects. Race…

Effective communication is central in the completion of most endeavors; however, a failure to communicate clearly or effectively can be commonplace and difficult to resolve. Communication within the online classroom is fraught with misinterpretations as there is a lack of real-time communication between instructors and students. Gaining a better…