Sharing cognition to construct scientific knowledge in school context: The role of oral and written discourse

This descriptive study is pare of a wider research project on learning environments in the classroom that can promote conceptual change in science domains. It investigated the role of talking-to-learn in small- and large-group discussions about a knowledge object and writing-to-learn in individual time after collaborative reasoning and arguing. The aims of the study, which involved a class of fifth-graders studying ecological concepts, were: (a) see whether by sharing cognition students could construct more advanced knowledge about the new topics on the interpsychological plane; (b) see whether, on an intrapsychological plane, they reacted to and appropriated information introduced during discussions as expressed in their individual written production after discussing; (c) see whether students particularly used reflective writing after a group discussion to reason on and express refinement or revision of their own initial conceptions because of socio-cognitive interaction; (d) examine how they perceived and evaluated the role of oral and written discourse in constructing scientific knowledge in the classroom. The data show that by sharing cognition the students constructed more advanced knowledge and that in almost all the written texts there was evidence of appropriation of information introduced while reasoning and arguing collectively. The majority of the written texts was of a reflective nature as the learners made explicit the revision of their own initial ideas because of socio-cognitive interaction. Moreover, the data show the students' reflections on the instructional purposes of both activities, talking- and writing-to-learn, alone and combined.