Dialogue in the classroom to construct scientific ideas: analysis of teacher discourse
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https://doi.org/10.17979/arec.2025.9.1.11311Abstract
Research in science education is mostly focused on designing teaching and learning sequences, and, more recently, on analysis of the teacher discourses that guide these sequences. Understanding teacher discourse is crucial in classrooms where ideas are constructed, as it guides student dialogue and the development of their understanding. This article presents an analysis of teacher discourse in a dialogical science teaching context. The data for the study were collected over the course of approximately ten hours, divided over four science workshops with senior cycle high school students. The contents of the classes were recorded and transcribed, and the discourse of the five teachers involved analysed. The discursive actions used by the teachers to assess students’ ideas were identified and grouped into three categories: elicit expression of ideas; retrieve and acknowledge previous ideas; and provide clarification and new points of view. The results of the study offer insight into how teachers’ discourse is articulated in a teaching context to construct scientific ideas among students.
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