ABSTRACT
In the last chapter we looked at some ways in which ritual or procedure-oriented understandings, rather than principled ones, may be fostered by certain sorts of classroom communications. Our examination of those communications was organized in terms of the principles of scientific experimentation that were at stake in the lessons, rather than in terms of the communicative processes that could be identified. We shall now examine the same sorts of phenomena, but this time concentrating on the sorts of communications that are involved. We shall be looking at how certain sorts of communication may foster or hinder the development of common knowledge in the classroom.
