Discourse in Science

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Show slide 8.

Give each participant a copy of the Cystic Fibrosis Reading. Advise the participants they will role-play students using the S-I-T strategy. Identify the document as one they might use if teaching a biology course. The document discusses what cystic fibrosis is, how one contracts it, how it is diagnosed, and the treatments for it.

Show slide 9. Have participants read the document closely. Ask them to note an idea or fact that surprises them, an idea or fact that interests them, and an idea or fact that troubles them.

Once participants have had a chance to read the document individually, ask them to discuss their responses in small groups. Give each group three sticky notes and ask that they work together to write a response for S-I-T, one response on each sticky.

Conclude the discussion by commenting on shared responses from using the S-I-T strategy, which generated conversation about cystic fibrosis. Inform the participants that this activity is used in Cystic Fibrosis: A DNA Case Study lesson on K20’s LEARN website.

Explain/Extend

Show slide 9. Pass out the Discourse in Science Note Catcher handout (see Attachments). Tell participants that based on their experience with the S-I-T strategy, consider the following question: How can the S-I-T strategy foster discourse in your classroom?

Ask participants to discuss this in their small groups. Request that they fill out the S-I-T Strategy section on the Note Catcher handout.

When groups are finished discussing the strategy, reassemble as a whole group. Have groups share their thoughts with the whole group.

Summarize the discussion, highlighting that S-I-T can promote discourse because it provides students with a structure for content-centered discussions in which students share their thinking with their peers. They must make a claim and then support that claim with evidence and reasoning. This could be done both verbally and in writing.

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Show slide 10. Identify the next strategy, Honeycomb Harvest, and review how to implement this strategy.

Show slide 11. Explain to participants that the terms for this activity are related to DNA.

Provide sets of the Honeycomb Harvest cards to each participant or small group of participants. Give participants 5–10 minutes to arrange the honeycombs to best represent their understanding of the relationship among these concepts.

Consider giving an example to help participants get started. For example, you could say that the "gene" and "recessive" honeycombs could touch because one is a type of gene.

When the participants have completed the task, have each individual share their reasoning with their small group. If small groups complete their Harvests together, have them rotate to another group to see other arrangements to compare and contrast.

Bring the group back together and discuss the variety in the arrangements. Emphasize that it is likely that students will also produce a variety of arrangements. As long as students can explain their reasoning, their arrangement should be considered correct.

Explain/Extend

Show slide 11. Based on their experience with the Honeycomb Harvest, have participants consider the following question: How can the Honeycomb Harvest strategy foster discourse in your classroom?

Have participants discuss this topic with their small groups. Have them fill out the Honeycomb Harvest strategy section on their Note Catcher handout.

After the groups have discussed their perceptions, bring the groups back together and ask them to share their thoughts with the whole group.

Summarize the discussion, highlighting that the Honeycomb Harvest enables students to explain their reasoning and negotiate their thinking with their peers to represent their understanding of the content.

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Show slide 12.

Introduce the final strategy called Say Something. Give each participant a copy of the Say Something handout and explain that the handout can be given to students any time there is going to be small-group or whole-group discussion. Display slide 13 and introduce the sentence starters from their handout. These starters help students learn how to participate in academic conversations effectively with their peers and aid students in expressing their ideas, asking questions, and supporting their claims with evidence.

Move to slide 14. Ask participants to consider how they could use this strategy to examine videos. Show the video embedded on the slide "Facts and Stories About the Blue Fugates."

Ask participants to look over the Say Something handout as they watch the video. Give them five minutes with small groups for practice using the Say Something sentence starters to engage in an academic conversation about the video and its genetic significance.