Using computers to help coach exploratory talk across the curriculum

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Abstract

This paper reports on the evaluation of an educational programme that coaches the practice of reasoning together through talk to a class of 9 year old children. The programme is based on a sociocultural theory of intellectual development and on recent research on the educational role of group work around computers. Computer software specifically designed to support discussion between children and to direct this discussion towards knowledge construction in the curriculum was incorporated into the larger educational programme. Evaluation showed a marked improvement in group cognition, some of which transferred to individuals. It also showed that the specially designed software was effective in integrating reasoning through talk with curriculum learning.

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