5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Task-Based Discussions in Science

Robust and effective classroom discussions are essential for providing students with opportunities to simultaneously engage in science practises while learning key science content. Using numerous examples and science learning tasks, the authors show how teachers can plan the lesson to encourage students to not only learn science content but employ disciplinary practises as well.

Robust and effective classroom discussions are essential for providing students with opportunities to simultaneously engage in science practises while learning key science content. Using numerous examples and science learning tasks, the authors show how teachers can plan the lesson to encourage students to not only learn science content but employ disciplinary practises as well. This volume outlines the five practises teachers need for facilitating effective inquiry-oriented classrooms:

Anticipate what students will do, what strategies they will use in solving a problem, monitor their work as they approach the problem in class, select students whose strategies are worth discussing in class, sequence those students’ presentations to maximise their potential to increase students’ learning, connect the strategies and ideas in a way that helps students understand the science learned.

The 5 Practices framework identifies a set of instructional practises that will help teachers achieve high-demand learning objectives by using student work as the launching point for discussions in which important scientific ideas are brought to the surface, contradictions are exposed and understandings are developed or consolidated.