ABSTRACT
In this chapter, an extract from Anna Traianou’s book Understanding Teacher Expertise in Primary Science arising from her doctoral thesis, Anna writes of an observation of a teacher, Coral, during a science lesson. The focus is on the way Coral discusses ‘friction’ with a class of 10 to 11 year olds, many of whom speak English as an additional language. Here, we present the initial part of the lesson which, in real time, lasted some 15 minutes. Although short in time, this part of Coral’s lesson is not short on observational detail and exemplifies the important understandings that can arise from close observation of teaching and learning. We feel that the chapter provides insights into the nature of one teacher’s teaching and the way she reaches out, often in exploratory ways, from her own understanding of friction to link with the children’s thinking. We also note the way in which Coral encourages children to freely express their own thoughts which, of course, she cannot plan for or anticipate and which therefore requires that she too becomes a classroom learner.
