Thank you for the information. We have not had contact with Sue Doubler, but we will definitely look into this work!

Thanks! Great question! Teachers deliver two types of lessons: Quality Talk mini-lessons about how to ask questions and generate responses in a discussion and Quality Talk science lessons that specifically target key scientific phenomenon aligning with content typically taught in high school chemistry and physics classrooms. Each mini-lesson takes about 15 minutes to deliver. Each science lesson is designed to be a “standalone” lesson, but the lessons can be fully delivered in three days. Teachers integrate both types of lessons into their classroom throughout the year, and teachers typically implement one Quality Talk mini-lesson and one Quality Talk science lesson per month. However, while teachers conduct Quality Talk discussions in conjunction with the “standalone” Quality Talk science lessons, we also work with teachers to conduct Quality Talk discussions based on their existing curriculum (i.e., Quality Talk is also a “complementary” tool). In this way, if a class were covering Global Warming, the teacher could facilitate a Quality Talk discussion to enhance the students’ thinking about Global Warming, even though we do not have a Quality Talk science lesson on that topic.

Exactly! We aim to give students the opportunity to think and talk about ideas with their peers in a safe learning environment while also giving them interpretive authority over the content. Thank you!

Great questions! First, prior to the teachers facilitating the discussions in the context of their classrooms, we conduct a comprehensive initial professional development workshop along with ongoing professional development and coaching to ensure teachers have all the necessary support to conduct the discussions. During both the professional development and coaching sessions, we teach the teachers how to use various “teacher moves” that they can use to facilitate the discussion in meaningful ways. By using these teacher moves during the discussions, teachers can better ensure that underrepresented or otherwise struggling students are successful in the discussions. For example, teachers could reinforce a good authentic question given by a student by “marking” the question with verbal praise. Alternatively, teachers could “prompt” a quiet student to ask a question when there is a lull in the flow of the discussion. At the professional development we teach the teachers different teacher moves, and during coaching we provide them with feedback about their use of teacher moves so that they can continually enhance their discussions. We also ensure that students feel that the discussions are relevant by selecting particularly novel, interesting, and relevant content for the science lessons and consequent discussions. For example, one of our lessons is centered around the airbags (“How does the inflation and deflation of the airbag prevent injury?”). Students are familiar with airbags, but they are unfamiliar with the chemistry and physics behind how they work, which we have found works well to stimulate interest and discussion.

One of the other important aspects of QT is that students are explicitly taught how to ask and respond to questions, and the teacher is encouraged to gradually release responsibility. What we have seen in our initial research is that this encourages students to have voice and authority over their learning—voice that would normally go unspoken or unheard. Quality Talk encourages students to take control of their own learning, as well as the learning of their peers through co-construction of meaning and something we refer to as cumulative talk. In episodes of cumulative talk, the students are working together to build understanding. Unlike argumentation where their is an element of challenge, cumulative talk describes a situation in which students are helping other come to understand difficult content.

Your other question about how we are working to make Quality Talk general and scalable, while still making it adaptable and relevant is also very important. We are still relatively early in our line of research; however, we are particularly interested in looking at the effect of different “dosages” of Quality Talk (e.g., How many discussions should teachers facilitate?), as well as which of the facets or ingredients of Quality Talk are critical and which are optional. At this time, we are studying how Quality Talk is implemented under ideal conditions. In the future we also wish to consider the effect of Quality Talk under more routine conditions.

Thank you! Regarding your statement about starting early, we wholeheartedly agree. In fact, we also have a project where we implement Quality Talk in elementary language arts classrooms (http://www.qualitytalk.psu.edu/2014/03/18/qtlan...). If you follow our website, we hope to add some “in the classroom” videos in the future.

Yes, in our videos we have found that teachers need to provide less support over time. Interestingly, we have also seen students beginning to take on some of the productive “teacher moves.” For example, after engaging in Quality Talk for some time, students begin to prompt other students for their input and praise their peers’ questions or responses, “wow, that is a good question!” After awhile, the role of the teacher actually becomes more of that of a participant, rather than that of a facilitator.

Please check out our website for more information, including some publications with more info about Quality Talk. www.qualitytalk.psu.edu

Thank you! We appreciate your comment!

Thank you!