Discussion Strategies in 6th Grade Science

6th Grade Science

Ryan Monaco

Problem Identified: I’d like to see more accountability during turn and talks. I noticed 6th grade conversations were sometimes dominated by one or two students, while others did not participate in the group discussion

Hypothesis: If students in 6th grade science are given more structured "Turn & Talk" instructions, then it will help improve their academic language and writing skills as measured by the clarity of their short answer Exit Ticket.

Data Collection: We did not end up collecting Exit Tickets, but we did collect verbal turn and talk responses as a formative assessment.

Actionable Step: Turn & Talks can be done directly after a Do Now. We noticed that including a fun little activity like asking “who has the most hair?” created energy within the group, and got the kids talking to one another. Students knowing who was starting and how long they were speaking was really helpful. We then walked around and took notes based on the conversations.

Overall Findings/Impact: I think the structure we incorporated into our 6th grade turn & talks benefited students like Che who may not want to always participate in small group discussions. In the future, I’d like to use multiple structured turn & talks with engaging (but relevant) questions throughout a lesson and see how students do on Exit Tickets, compared to unstructured turn & talks.