Establishing Scientific Classroom Discourse Communities: Multiple Voices of Teaching and Learning Research

Establishing Scientific Classroom Discourse Communities: Multiple Voices of Teaching and Learning Research is designed to encourage discussion of issues surrounding the reform of classroom science discourse among teachers, teacher educators, and researchers. The contributors--some of the top educational researchers, linguists, and science educators in the world--represent a variety of perspectives pertaining to teaching, assessment, research, learning, and reform. As a whole the book explores the variety, complexity, and interconnectivity of issues associated with changing classroom learning communities and transforming science classroom discourse to be more representative of the discourse of scientific communities. The intent is to expand debate among educators regarding what constitutes exemplary scientific speaking, thinking, and acting. This book is unparalleled in discussing current reform issues from sociolinguistic and sociocultural perspectives. The need for a revised perspective on enduring science teaching and learning issues is established and a theoretical framework and methodology for interpreting the critique of classroom and science discourses is presented. To model and scaffold this ongoing debate, each chapter is followed by a "metalogue" in which the chapter authors and volume editors critique the issues traversed in the chapter by opening up the neatly argued issues. These "metalogues" challenge, extend, and deepen the arguments made. Central questions addressed include: *Why is a sociolinguistic interpretation essential in examining science education reform? *What are key similarities and differences between classroom and scientific communities? *How can the utility of common knowledge and existing classroom discourse be balanced toward alternative outcomes? *What curricular issues are associated with transforming classroom talk? *What other perspectives can assist in creating multiple access to science through redefining classroom discourse? Whether this volume improves readers' science teaching, assists their research, or helps them to better prepare tomorrow's science teachers, the goal is to engage them in considering the challenges faced by educators as they navigate the seas of reform and strive to improve science education for all.

Table of Contents:
Contents: R. Duschl, Foreword. R. Yerrick, W-M. Roth, Introduction: The Role of Language in Science Learning and Teaching. J.P. Gee, Language in the Science Classroom: Academic Social Languages as the Heart of School-Based Literacy. J.P. Gee, G.J. Kelly, W-M. Roth, R. Yerrick, METALOGUE: Situating Identity and Science Discourse. W-M. Roth, Telling in Purposeful Activity and the Emergence of Scientific Language. J.P. Gee, W-M. Roth, R. Yerrick, METALOGUE: Understanding, of Science and Teaching. G.J. Kelly, Discourse, Description, and Science Education. G.J. Kelly, W-M. Roth, R. Yerrick, METALOGUE: Contrasting Sociolinguistic and Normative Approaches to Redesigning School. G.M. Bowen, Essential Similarities and Differences Between Classroom and Scientific Communities. G.M. Bowen, W-M. Roth, R. Yerrick, METALOGUE: Authentic Science Education: Contradictions and Possibilities. M. Varelas, C.C. Pappas, A. Rife, Dialogic Inquiry in an Urban Second-Grade Classroom: How Intertextuality Shapes and Is Shaped by Social Interactions and Scientific Understandings. G.M. Bowen, M. Varelas, W-M. Roth, R. Yerrick, METALOGUE: Lifeworld Language, Scientific Literacy, and Intertextuality. C. Ballenger, Meaning and Context: Studying Words in Motion. C. Ballenger, R. Yerrick, W-M. Roth, METALOGUE: Balancing Our View of Science With Language Usage and Culture. K.M. Collins, A.S. Palincsar, S.J. Magnusson, Science for All: A Discursive Analysis Examining Teacher Support of Student Thinking in Inclusive Classrooms. M. Gallego, S.J. Magnusson, K.M. Collins, A.S. Palincsar, W-M. Roth, R. Yerrick, METALOGUE: A Question of Perspective in Supporting the Learning of Students With Special Needs in Inquiry-Based Science Instruction. R. Yerrick, Playing the Game of Science: Overcoming Obstacles in Re-Negotiating Science Classroom Discourse. C. Ballenger, J.P. Gee, R. Yerrick, W-M. Roth, METALOGUE: Emergent Nature of Classroom Talk and the Game of Science. K. Tobin, Teaching Science in Urban High Schools: When the Rubber Hits the Road. K. Tobin, R. Yerrick, W-M. Roth, METALOGUE: Expanding Agency and Changing Social Structures. M.A. Gallego, N.D. Finkelstein, When the Classroom Isn't in School: The Construction of Scientific Knowledge in an After-School Setting. M. Varelas, M.A. Gallego, R. Yerrick, W-M. Roth, METALOGUE: Scientific Versus Spontaneous Concepts at Work in Student Learning.

About the Author :
Randy K. Yerrick, Wolff-Michael Roth

Review :
"...a significant contribution to the debate about educational ends and means, not only in relation to science but to the curriculum more generally, as the principles based on Vygotskian sociocultural theory are not subject-specific....The authors are all renowned scholars in their fields and each makes a significant contribution to the whole....I welcome the various insightful explorations of what enables and constitutes educationally productive science talk." —Gordon Wells University of California at Santa Cruz "This book makes an important statement and contribution....I applaud the editors for their efforts to design a book that respects postmodern critique of the unitary subject and which extends understanding of the construction of the subject and subject-object relations in and through discourse and language....The general questions raised in the book are the central vortex of questions pertinent to understanding and improving all subject matter education." —Lesley A. Rex University of Michigan