Case study 7: Giving children discussion roles supports the development of their social skills
Teacher-researcher Greg Mace says “children could communicate with their peers and become more independent.”
Identified need:
Greg wanted to provide children with opportunities to be successful working in a group. He thought that it would be beneficial to give them a structured approach so that they had a better understanding of what they should be doing and when they should be talking or listening. Within a small, supported group, children would also need to be able to take turns, understand what their peers were doing and develop the skill of waiting. Greg hoped this approach would result in children being more comfortable and confident when participating in group discussions.
The Approach:
Greg used Explorify to encourage science conversations between peers in an intervention that developed children’s social skills. He created discussion groups of four children and gave each child a specific role. The describer was asked to look at the Odd One Out and describe what they saw. The thinker was given a science question related to the activity. For example, when the group were looking at Different homes the thinker was asked to, ‘Think about what might live here’.
The thinker was also prompted to consider what was the same and what was different in the three images. The listener was asked to focus carefully on what the thinker said and then tell the recorder the ideas that they had heard. The recorder’s role was to write down the ideas that the listener was able to tell them. To remind the group of their roles and tasks, they were given a sheet with visuals, as shown here:
Greg’s reflections:
As the children became more familiar with the approach, I noticed that they were able to say what their role was and wait for their turn. The children had opportunities to communicate peer-to- peer, giving and receiving information in an adult-directed task.
Some children could say what they had to do in their role and grew in independence. Even though some children expressed their opinions about what jobs they liked and disliked, they all accepted the jobs they were given (even if they didn’t want that job!).
As well as improving children’s confidence to participate in discussions, this intervention was purposefully providing additional opportunities to build their science knowledge and understanding - sneaking extra science in by the back door!
