Talk and the Development of Reasoning and Understanding

Abstract

Wertsch’s clarification of Vygotsky’s claims about the role of social interaction in the development of children’s thinking made an important contribution to educational research. Revisiting that clarification, I suggest that ‘talk’ instead of ‘speech’ best describes Vygotsky’s concern with the functional dynamics of dialogue rather than the language system. Reviewing research on teacher-pupil interaction and collaborative activity amongst peers, I then consider what evidence has now emerged to support Vygotsky’s claims. The article ends with a brief summary of the current state of our understanding about the role of spoken dialogue in learning and development.

Ingenuity in Action: Connecting Tinkering to Engineering Design Processes

“…Because children are not necessarily articulating every thought they have, we hypothesize that much of the identifying (step 1) and brainstorming (step 2) was done internally, where the visitor has a goal and a problem to solve in mind. Oftentimes, visitors only articulated their goals when they collaborated in groups, consistent with studies in which students working in groups (as opposed to individually) explained their thoughts and reasonings to each other (e.g., Mercer, 2008;Okada & Simon, 1997). For step 2, the actions that were observable are ''explores materials and variables'' and ''selects appropriate materials from available options,'' and consequently, these may have been observed more frequently than the other behaviors of step 2.…”

“…Interacting with others allows learners to construct knowledge that they may not have been able to construct on their own (Chi, 2009). Mercer (2008) found that ''planning, negotiation, and the joint construction of knowledge by partners correlated significantly with successful problem solving.'' Thus, collaboration may be an important behavior in promoting and developing engineering habits of mind.…”

Valoración de la enseñanza de la lengua oral en el aula: uso de la herramienta EVALOE en Brasil

“…La conversación exploratoria (MERCER, 2008) es un ejemplo de propuesta educativa que fomenta un aprendizaje más eficaz de la lengua oral en el contexto escolar, donde el establecimiento de normas comunicativas específicas encarna las cualidades esenciales del debate.…”

“…Mercer (2008) ha presentado argumentos convincentes sobre el impacto de la calidad del diálogo maestro-alumno en el aprendizaje de contenidos de ciencia y otras materias del currículo, así como en relación con el desarrollo de la competencia lingüística oral .…”

“…Las estrategias conversacionales que utilizan los maestros en la interacción con los niños y la manera como éstos organizan el contexto aula parecen ser los elementos que más contribuyen a la creación de entornos favorables que faciliten el desarrollo de la lengua oral (MERCER, 2008).…”