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Language, Access, and Power in the Elementary Science Classroom
Author(s) -
SCHOERNING EMILY,
HAND BRIAN,
SHELLEY MACK,
THERRIEN WILLIAM
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
science education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.209
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1098-237X
pISSN - 0036-8326
DOI - 10.1002/sce.21154
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , mathematics education , perspective (graphical) , science education , power (physics) , pedagogy , psychology , computer science , chemistry , quantum mechanics , biochemistry , artificial intelligence , physics
The Next Generation Science Standards call for the adoption of many aspects of scientific inquiry in the classroom. The ways in which classroom talk and classroom environment change as students and teachers learn to utilize inquiry approaches are underexplored. This study examines the frequency with which linguistic markers related to access and power appear in student and teacher speech in the elementary science classroom. As teachers begin to implement argument‐based inquiry methods, teacher and student use of these markers changes significantly. These changes indicate that students whose teachers utilize argument‐based inquiry have greater access and power in the science classroom. In this paper, the mechanisms by which teachers afford their students access and power are explored from a quantitative perspective.