Qualifying the science experiences of young students through dialogue - A Norwegian lesson study

Abstract

Practical and exploratory activities are an important part of science education. However, students’ learning outcomes from such activities require more than just active participation; their experiences must be linked to scientific ideas. The purpose of this lesson study is to investigate the teacher–student dialogue after exploratory activities in a first-grade Norwegian classroom and examine how teachers plan and facilitate this dialogue. Our conventional content analysis revealed that teachers’ and researchers’ objectives with regard to the reflection sequences were connected to students’ dialogue, scientific dialogue, the content of the consolidation phases, the time given for reflection and the duration of the reflection. An analysis of the interactional factors that influence situation-related interest revealed a high level of social congruence among teachers but lower levels of cognitive congruence and subject-matter expertise. Through an initiative-response analysis, we found that the teachers have a strong dominance in the dialogue. To help young students grasp scientific ideas, we argue that reflective dialogues related to students’ experiences and subject matter content need to take place immediately—almost at the same time as the experiences are created—instead of including consolidation as a separate final phase. Carrying out shorter reflection phases closer to the time when the experiences are created can help ensure that there is sufficient time for students’ reflection.