This book focuses on the talk of science classrooms and in particular on the ways in which the different kinds of interactions between teachers and students contribute to meaning making and learning. Central to the text is a new analytical framework for characterising the key features of the talk of school science classrooms. This framework is based on sociocultural principles and links the work of theorists such as Vygotsky and Bakhtin to the day-to-day interactions of contemporary science classrooms.

This book focuses on the talk of science classrooms and in particular on the ways in which the different kinds of interactions between teachers and students contribute to meaning making and learning. Central to the text is a new analytical framework for characterising the key features of the talk of school science classrooms. This framework is based on sociocultural principles and links the work of theorists such as Vygotsky and Bakhtin to the day-to-day interactions of contemporary science classrooms. *presents a framework, based on sociocultural theory, for analysing the language of teaching and learning interactions in science classrooms *provides detailed examples and illustrations of insights gained from applying the framework to real science lessons in Brazil and the UK. *demonstrates how these ways of thinking about classroom talk can be drawn upon to inform the professional development of science teachers. *offers an innovative research methodology, based on sociocultural theory, for analysing classroom talk. *expands upon the ways in which sociocultural theory has been systematically applied to analysing classroom contexts. This book offers a powerful set of tools for thinking and talking about the day-to-day practices of contemporary science classrooms. It contains messages of fundamental importance and insight for all of those who are interested in reflecting on the interactions of science teaching and learning, whether in the context of teaching, higher degree study, or research.

In August 2003 over 400 researchers in the field of science education from all over the world met at the 4th ESERA conference in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. During the conference 300 papers about actual issues in the field, such as the learning of scientific concepts and skills, scientific literacy, informal science learning, science teacher education, modeling in science education were presented. The book contains 40 of the most outstanding papers presented during the conference. These papers reflect the quality and variety of the conference and represent the state of the art in the field of research in science education.

This book highlights recent developments in literacy research in science teaching and learning from countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States. It includes multiple topics and perspectives on the role of literacy in enhancing science teaching and learning, such as the struggles faced by students in science literacy learning, case studies and evaluations of classroom-based interventions, and the challenges encountered in the science classrooms. It offers a critical and comprehensive investigation on numerous emerging themes in the area of literacy and science education, including disciplinary literacy, scientific literacy, classroom discourse, multimodality, language and representations of science, and content and language integrated learning (CLIL). The diversity of views and research contexts in this volume presents a useful introductory handbook for academics, researchers, and graduate students working in this specialized niche area. With a wealth of instructional ideas and innovations, it is also highly relevant for teachers and teacher educators seeking to improve science teaching and learning through the use of literacy.

2018 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Ambitious Science Teaching outlines a powerful framework for science teaching to ensure that instruction is rigorous and equitable for students from all backgrounds. The practices presented in the book are being used in schools and districts that seek to improve science teaching at scale, and a wide range of science subjects and grade levels are represented. The book is organized around four sets of core teaching practices: planning for engagement with big ideas; eliciting student thinking; supporting changes in students’ thinking; and drawing together evidence-based explanations. Discussion of each practice includes tools and routines that teachers can use to support students’ participation, transcripts of actual student-teacher dialogue and descriptions of teachers’ thinking as it unfolds, and examples of student work. The book also provides explicit guidance for “opportunity to learn” strategies that can help scaffold the participation of diverse students. Since the success of these practices depends so heavily on discourse among students, Ambitious Science Teaching includes chapters on productive classroom talk. Science-specific skills such as modeling and scientific argument are also covered. Drawing on the emerging research on core teaching practices and their extensive work with preservice and in-service teachers, Ambitious Science Teaching presents a coherent and aligned set of resources for educators striving to meet the considerable challenges that have been set for them.

Written in an accessible and jargon-free style, Interthinking: putting talk to work explores the growing body of work on how people think creatively and productively together. Challenging purely individualistic accounts of human evolution and cognition, its internationally acclaimed authors provide analyses of real-life examples of collective thinking in everyday settings including workplaces, schools, rehearsal spaces and online environments. The authors use socio-cultural psychology to explain the processes involved in interthinking, to explore its creative power, but also to understand why collective thinking isn’t always productive or successful. With this knowledge we can maximise the constructive benefits of our ability to interthink, and understand the best ways in which we can help young people to develop, nurture and value that capability.