This study explores the use of backchannels, real-time online conversations taking place simultaneously with spoken discussions (the front channel), as one approach to meaning-making through discussion. Using transcripts of front and backchannel discussions, we examine how undergraduate preservice teachers utilize backchannels to talk about…

Courses: This activity will work in any face-to-face communication lecture course. Objectives: By the end of the semester in a face-to-face lecture class, every student will have engaged in verbal discussion.

This paper advocates for the inclusion of big questions into the basic course curriculum. It begins by exploring the nature of big questions as those that engage pressing and perennial civic and global issues, and details their effectiveness in encouraging students and faculty to think about interpersonal responsibility and social space as…

This article reports on findings from a research study exploring the potential for democratic learning in a gallery education project which took place in the UK in 2006-7. In doing so, it also explores a pressing issue for education today: the question of young people's democratic education in a time of political crisis in Europe. The focus of the…

The authors utilise the format of a dialogue in this essay to explore the place of hip-hop in the United States College classroom. Dialogue fosters a spirit of collaboration that generates more reflective responses and can spark new ideas that would be difficult to think of individually. Previous scholarship has also argued that hip-hop is itself…

Philosophical dialogue requires an approach to teaching and learning in science that is focused on problem posing and provides space for meaning making, finding new ways of thinking and understanding and for linking science with broader human experiences. This article explores the role that philosophical dialogue can play in science lessons and…

Discourse in mathematics classrooms has been at the forefront of mathematics reform for years. Of the eight NCTM Mathematics Teaching Practices, four relate specifically to the use of discussion, questioning, and the analysis of student thinking that is based on discourse. As an answer to the demand for discourse within many mathematics classroom,…

Multinational picture books offer students of all ages a window into the wider world. This article provides a rationale for inclusion of multinational picture books across the curriculum as well as book recommendations.

A Reggio-Emilia inspired approach to learning allows for integration of core disciplines, innovation, and creativity, while supporting current science pedagogy. Reggio-inspired projects are a part of an "emergent" curriculum, one where both teachers and children have the ability to make decisions that inform learning. The authors'…

This iterative study examined factors that influence student engagement in an online asynchronous discussion forum (DF), which is a standard feature of most learning management systems (LMSs) and thus of most online courses at the university level. DFs are a principle way to enable online participation and interaction on a student-to-student and…

This qualitative inquiry sought to advance metacognitive theory with an understanding in higher-ordered thinking processes to complete a discussion forum as articulated by online undergraduates with learning disabilities. In doing so, descriptions of lived experiences enrich metacognitive theory by answering the research question, how do online…

Thinkers ranging from John Dewey to Mikhail Bakhtin have theorized the importance of discussion to deep understanding, providing a rich foundation for the growing body of empirical support for the claim that English Language Arts students who participate in discussions learn more than students who do not have this opportunity. Despite abundant…

In this report of an action research study, the authors describe how one elementary science teacher educator used transcript coding of simulated classroom discussions as a pedagogical approach to learn about her elementary preservice teachers' (PSTs') abilities to notice key aspects of scientific argumentation discussions. Elementary PSTs (n = 19)…

In this study, we work towards a strategy to measure and enhance the quality of interactions in discussion forums at scale. We present a machine learning (ML) model which identifies the phase of cognitive presence exhibited by a student's post and suggest future applications of such a model to help online students develop higher-order thinking. We…

In 16 Flying Start early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings within a Local Authority in Wales, observations of adult-child interactions, using the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing Scale (SSTEW), highlighted that interactions that support children's problem solving, curiosity, concept development, and higher-order…