ABSTRACT
There is compelling evidence that productive discourse and argumentation in classrooms improves student achievement. Yet discourse and argumentation are rare in classrooms in the United States. In general, teachers talk, and students listen. Most teachers either do not know how, or do not feel comfortable, initiating discussions in which students do much of the talking. To address this issue, we developed CASUM: Conversations About Science Using Media. The idea behind CASUM was to provide classroom teachers with professional development and resources to empower them to confidently and effectively facilitate discourse and argumentation for all students. In our study, 18 third grade teachers received 4 hours of professional development on how to initiate and manage classroom conversations about measuring distance, mass and volume. During each CASUM dialog session, teachers presented students with narrated multimedia presentations about science. At designated times, they paused the presentation and asked students questions designed to facilitate discussion. The teachers conducted between 8 and 11 discussion sessions in their classrooms. Teacher interviews, surveys, and classroom observations provided strong evidence for the feasibility and benefits of empowering teachers to initiate and sustain productive classroom conversations with English language learners and special needs students.
