Editor: Viv Edwards (University of Reading, UK)
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Volume: 18 Number: 3 Page: 264–280
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Constructing Explanations of Flight: A Study of Instructional Discourse in Primary Science
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Patricia M. Rowell and Margaretha Ebbers
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In this paper, we examine the instructional discourse of science lessons in two primary classrooms for explanations of bird adaptations for flight. We draw on case study data to describe ways in which student
construction of explanations is scaffolded by the teachers. We recognised three categories of explanations developed in the discourse: descriptive explanations, relational explanations and explanatory models.
Descriptive explanations predominated. We argue that teachers cannot assume that, although the construction of oral explanations in science lessons may move from descriptive to relational or explanatory
models, students will be able to write such explanations without specific attention to text structure.
Keywords: CLASSROOM DISCOURSE, EXPLANATIONS, PRIMARY SCIENCE
© Multilingual Matters 2004
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