Learning to make classroom discussions academically productive

Learning to make classroom discussions academically productive. Developing strategies for analyzing classroom discussions in the context of an intervention study with history and mathematics teachers

Abstract

In this paper, we describe how general and subject-specific requirements for dialogic classroom discourse intertwine (a) in the design of a professional development program for mathematics and history teachers with a focus on improving classroom discussions, and (b) in the analysis of classroom discussions. In order to capture possible changes in discourse quality over the course of this professional development program (1 year), different methods of analysis are used, representing different perspectives (general and subject-specific), focusing on different aspects of the discourse, and combining both quantifying and qualitative procedures. The potential of this approach is illustrated and discussed using two examples - video data of a history teacher and a mathematics teacher - in each of which different analytical procedures are applied.