written by Sean Stewart, Maria Angarita, Jared L. Durden, and Vashti Sawtelle

In reformed classrooms that utilize student-student interactions, a student's concerns can often be resolved through student-student discourse with minimal to no direct input from the instructor. To gain insight into such interactions, we used video data from a Florida International University reformed introductory physics classroom. We micro-analyzed a segment in which the discourse between a group of students leads to the resolution of a concern. In this study, we identified a pattern of discourse which we are calling a "Learning Arc." In this paper, we present the "Learning Arc" as a 3-stage process by which students use discourse as a means to achieve a consensus that resolves a concern.

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Published January 24, 2013
Last Modified July 1, 2013