A Framework for Facilitating Equitable Discourse in Science Classrooms

In traditional classroom discourse, the teacher controls the discussion, asking most of the questions and calling on students to respond. This model does not work well for the inquiry-based classroom, which depends on engagement, peer interaction, and student ownership of learning. In this article, the authors present an alternative framework for classroom discourse--the tetrahedron, which consists of four equilateral triangles. This framework suggests that the teacher and students are working together for a common purpose of shared learning. Practical suggestions for putting the tetrahedron model into practice in your classroom are included. (Contains 2 figures.)