Using dialogic diaries to develop student understanding and trainee practice Nicola Walshe University of Cambridge
Exploring and developing childrens understandings of sustainable development with dialogic diaries The study 25 year 10 students undertaking Edexcel B GCSE Village College in Cambridgeshire Methods Dialogic diaries Interviews
Exploring and developing childrens understandings of sustainable development with dialogic diaries Data analysis Analysis of dialogue (after Daniel et al., 2005) Analysis of general levels of understanding (using revision of Bloom) Analysis of understandings of sustainability
Results The metacommunicative dimension (developing the dialogue) The ideational dimension (developing students understanding of the substantive topic, sustainable development) The interpersonal dimension (developing relationships within the classroom)
Its like a sort of a personal connection between the pupil and the teacher... you can recap what's going on in the lesson and see things from different perspectives. Having that connection with a teacher... actually gets me more involved with school in general. Tyler
Issues Time For students to write the diaries? For me to respond? For the diary-writing process to continue? Writing Writing vs drawingdrawing Blogosphere? The ethics of diary-writing Ideological process (pupils need to be convinced of teacher/researchers motives Political process (questions orthodox teacher-pupil roles)
Stage 1: Reflection after Faculty Session Stage 2: Pair Blog Responses Stage 3: School-based activity Stage 4: Reflection on School-based activity Stage 5: Pair Blog Responses Working with trainees (1): Online Blogs on Sustainability Reflection(s) before Faculty session Greater number of school-based activities (at a range of scales) Increased response by me
Working with trainees (2): Dialogic diaries as a research method for trainees PGCE trainee: used dialogic diaries to explore student learning for assignment. MEd student: using dialogic diaries to track Year 9 students' understanding of distant place (China).