1. The big Question Do we learn better through talking or writing? How do we use talking or writing for learning at the moment? What is good or bad about the ways we use them?

2. The big Question Do we learn better through talking or writing? How do we use talking or writing for learning at the moment? What is good or bad about the ways we use them? Types of writing – essays, answers to questions, stories, notes, brainstorm Benefits - Record available Requires more skill – e.g. punctuation Types of talking – debating, speech (persuade, inform) discussion, Q and A, roleplay Easier to share ideas Easier to explain in talking

3. Why might we be interested in talk? In the classroom, often the teacher does a LOT of talking but pupils are also asked to talk – why? – We might talk to tell stories, to give information, to describe or explain something, to instruct others – We also use talk to think aloud, to generate ideas and to share them Talk is part of learning, a social form of learning

4. Understanding how talk affects learning Education changes all the time; teachers and researchers look at classrooms to see how we can improve the learning that takes place One area of interest is talk We are going to use some research about student talk and investigate it in our classroom The work we are looking at is based on studies by Neil Mercer and Rupert Wegerif

5. Types of talk In their research, Mercer and Wegerif observed how students talk together They wanted to try to understand when talk helps students learn and how to get students doing more of this Mercer identifies 3 types of talk: 1.Disputational 2.Cumulative 3.Exploratory What do you think these 3 words mean? What other words do you associate them with?

6. What is disputational talk? A dispute is an argument. Disputational talk is when there is a lot of disagreement and everybody makes their own individual decisions (Mercer, 1995) What do you think a conversation that contained disputational talk would sound like? What phrases might you expect to see people using?

7. Features of disputational talk There are few attempts to reach agreement or share new ideas Student do no offer constructive criticism There are often a lot of interactions of the 'Yes it is! - No it's not!' kind The atmosphere is competitive rather than cooperative

8. Task: In groups of 3 or 4, make a list of different occasions when you might take part in disputational talk. E.g. When discussing favourite football teams, TV programmes, When trying to work out how to get on to the next level of a computer game. Extra task - Role play one example and prepare to present this back to the class.

9. What is cumulative talk? Cumulative talk is when everyone simply accepts and agrees with what the other people are saying. They build positively but uncritically on what others have said. (Mercer, 1995) What do you think a conversation that contained cumulative talk would sound like? What phrases might you expect to see people using?

10. Features of Cumulative talk People use talk to share knowledge but they do so in an uncritical way Shared knowledge or ‘common knowledge’ is agreed upon People repeat each other's comments They elaborate on each other's ideas, but they don't evaluate them carefully

11. Task: In groups of 3 or 4, make a list of different occasions when you might take part in cumulative talk. E.g. When two people are moaning together about some school work or a teacher; discussing the weather; a tragedy; when people share opinions Extra task - Role play one example and prepare to present this back to the class.

12. Notes Page Can we list any features or examples? Cumulative Disputational

13. Cumulative Co-operative Positive because not attacking but no rebuttals – getting nowhere Best friends talking about anything If 2 people are into the same thing About something like homework School rules Is someone boring Disputational Competitive – can be negative XB1 or PS4? Are boys better than girls? Samsung or Apple Politics (labour or conservative) Notes Page

14. We are going to look at five different conversations, which have taken place between different students during lesson time. Is your example Disputational or cumulative? What features tell you so Were their conversations successful in helping with their learning? Cumulative or disputational?

15. Two boys are working on a puzzle in which they have to determine at what co-ordinates on a grid map of New York an elephant is hiding. Lester: I can do it. Shane: (Still staring at the screen) No, not up, down. Lester: It can’t be Shane: It can Lester: I know where it is.(Shane takes his turn, but fails to find the elephant) Lester: I told you it weren’t over there (He then takes his turn, without success) Shane: Eh heh heh heh (laughing gleefully) Lester: Which one just went on? I don’t know Shane: 1,2,3,4,5,6 (counting squares) Lester: I know where it is Shane: I got the nearest. Lester: (counting squares) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Shane: I got the nearest, 5 Lester: So it has got to be 1,8 Lester: 2,8 Shane: Oh, suit yourself

16. Working at the computer, three students are using a Science Explorer simulation to test different materials for sound insulation. Hannah : (reads instructions) ‘Keep it Quiet. Which material is the best insulation? Click ‘measure’ to take a sound reading. Does the pitch make a difference?’ Darryl: No we don’t want clothes. See what one it is then. (Points to screen) Hannah: No it’s cloth Darryl: Oh it’s cloth. Hannah: Go down. This is better when Stephanie’s in our group. Darryl: Metal? Hannah: Right try it. Deborah: Try what? That? Hannah: Try ‘glass’ Darryl: Yeah Deborah: No one. Hannah: Now! Darryl: Measure! Hannah: Now measure. Hold. (Turns volume control dial below screen) 3 Darryl: Results, notes! Hannah: Results. We need to go on a different one now. Results! Darryl: Yeah, you need to go there so you can write everything down Hannah: I’m not writing.

17. As part of a series of lessons on ‘Our galaxy’, three girls are discussing the truth of a statement provided to them by their teacher. Fritzie: (reads) ‘Our sun is just one of millions of stars in the galaxy called the Milky Way.’ Is it true, false or unsure? Vicky: I'm not sure actually, I haven't... Gloria: It's called the, yes, it's true Vicky: Yeah, I th.. not sure but I think it may be a yes Fritzie: why? Vicky: Well, because, well, in the night yeah, there's loads and loads and loads of stars in the sky. But if you actually look at them really, really properly, it's actually ehm... Fritzie: a planet? Vicky: … yeah, biggest star's actually the planet, and like the one that kind of twinkle, I think's the, the planet and the one that eh… Gloria: Yeah, I saw a really big planet last night and I actually didn't see just one planet, I saw actually three really big planets, three really big stars… Vicky: Yeah Gloria: …and it was amazing, it didn't even twinkle Fritzie: So it's the only, the stars are the only one that twinkle the most, OK? Gloria: (nods) Vicky: OK, now Fritzie: OK, that's, got that as a true Vicky: OK, should have put true Fritzie: Put true, true (points at paper) Vicky: I couldn't, I can't even remember how to spell true anymore

18. As part of a series of lessons on ‘Our galaxy’, three girls are discussing the truth of a statement provided to them by their teacher. Elenor: OK (reads) ‘The moon changes shape because it is in the shadow of the earth’. Carmel: No, that's not true, because there's the clouds that cover the moon Elenor: No it isn't... yeah Georgie: Yeah Elenor: Because in the day we think oh the moon's gone it hasn't gone, it's just the cloud that… Carmel: …have covered it Georgie: Yeah, that's why I like, every time, well on Sunday I went out and it was like five in the morning right, and the moon was still out so that's fine cos it was still dark, right. Elenor: Yeah Georgie: So when we went out it was like five, four, four o'clock, something like that, like at that time there wouldn't be the moon out would there, but I saw half the moon out and I said, I said to my mums friend, I said look Tony, there's the moon already out, and he said oh yeah. Cos in the morning, when we came there was the clouds Teacher: OK everybody, finish up the one you're talking about Elenor: So what do we think? Georgie: I think it's false Carmel: False

19. A group have been given the pictures and descriptions of various animals of the rainforest environment t that hey have been studying. They have to classify them as ‘herbivores’ or ‘carnivores’. Emmeline: Now we’ve got a fish-uh- the Oliver: What sort, the piranha Emmeline: No, the little, not the scaly one. Maddy: Lun, lungf …(hesitating) Oliver: Lungfish Maddy: It probably feeds on things in the river, because it’s not going to go out and catch a monkey or something, is it? (all laugh) Emmeline: Yeah. Could bri … 5 Oliver: (interrupting) There is of course river plants, some of them do feed on river plants, and leaves that fall in the river. Maddy: Yeah, it’s probably a herbivore Ben: We haven’t got anything to tell Emmeline: What do you think it should be Oliver: No, actually I think we should put it in ‘carnivore’, most fish are Emmeline: No, because, ma … Oliver: (interrupting) It’s our best and most fish are Emmeline: (interrupting) Yeah, but we’ve got this one here, and this one here (She indicates some fish cards in both ‘carnivore’ and ‘herbivore’ piles on the table) (The discussion continues, unresolved, until Ben says …) Ben: Let’s have a vote, have a vote. Emmeline: Yeah, let’s have a vote. Ben: (to Oliver) What do you think? Oliver: I think ‘carnivore’ Ben: (to Maddy) What do you reckon? Maddy: I think ‘herbivore’. Ben: (to Emmeline) What do you reckon? Emmeline: ‘Herbivore’. Oliver: (to Ben) Ben: (laughing, looking sheepish and uncertain, doesn’t answer) Oliver: Come on, this isn’t worth it, it’s a lungf … Ben: Carnivore Oliver: Carnivore, that’s two each. Ben: Let’s, OK (he prepares to toss a coin) Oliver: No, don’t bother flipping a coin, it’s meant to be … Ben: (interrupts, tosses coin) FlipOliver: … thinking! Ben: heads or tails? Oliver: Lung, no, shush! Emmeline: It’s heads. Well, you win. Oliver: (picks up the ‘lungfish’ card and reads) ‘The lungfish has a pair of lungs and small gills and burrows in the mud and breathes air’. It can’t be a herbivore because what would it eat when it’s on its own in the sand? There’s nothing to eat.

20. Body language – vid without sound What type of talk did this seem to be Hall-marks / features of types of talk Cumulative Lots of agreement Mainly yes and ok No evaluation Disputational Lots of disagreements Yes and No Arguments People fighting their point

21. What are the strengths of cumulative or disputational talk? Make a list of the pros and cons in your book? What are the weaknesses?