Secondary science teachers' use of discourse moves to work with student ideas in classroom discussions

We investigated 10 secondary science teachers' facilitation of classroom discussions to examine how they went beyond eliciting student ideas to working with student ideas to support sensemaking. We qualitatively analysed video records of instruction and focussed our analysis on discussions stemming from formative assessments embedded in learning progression-based curricular units. We found that discussions could be placed on a quality continuum from recitation, to emergent, to transitional, to productive based on the degree to which teachers went beyond eliciting student ideas. We also found that discussion quality reflected the type and distribution of discourse moves teachers employed. In the highest quality (or productive) discussions, teachers used a concerted array of discourse moves to elicit, mark, and build on student ideas, including pressing students for reasoning, highlighting similarities and differences among the ideas and reasonings presented, and connecting student ideas to the learning progression. Teachers used these discourse moves relatively evenly throughout productive discussions. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on ways teachers can effectively support student sensemaking. It illustrates how science teachers' use of discourse moves can shape the quality of discussions and points to the potential of learning progressions as a tool to facilitate productive discussions.