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Enhancing Students' Discussion Skills

February 23, 2009

Education reform aims to promote learner-centered classrooms and students’ construction of knowledge. A respectful classroom environment enables students to help lead discussions and to evaluate and set the direction of classroom discourse. Mitchell Nathan and colleagues compared the structure of discussions in a middle school math classroom before and after the teacher participated in professional development activities aimed at enhancing students’ participation and the co-construction of mathematical ideas. The study found changes in the role of teacher and students, and increases in student-directed discussions. Read the Working Paper here.