ABSTRACT
You turn the handle and open the door to a classroom where a science lesson is under way. What do you expect to see? Pupils engaged in practical work, perhaps? The teacher demonstrating a procedure? Pupils writing up notes while the teacher checks they are on task? What you are almost certain to see when you enter the room is people talking. It is almost too obvious to be seen. Talk is such an integral part of our lives that its value and significance are easily overlooked. Not so long ago, a ‘good’ teacher may have been regarded as one that kept their classes quiet. Pupils were to be seen and not heard. Yet talking is central to the teaching and learning of science. It is through talk that we communicate and explore our ideas about the world and how it works. Talk can shape those ideas, and create new ways of thinking.
