VALUING A CONVERSATIONAL APPROACH

What do we mean by a conversational approach? We have found that encouraging children to talk through their ideas promotes scientific thinking and learning at their own level. Adults support this way of working by creating an atmosphere where children’s emergent thoughts are valued, listened to and recorded. Children are taught that they need to listen to each others’ points of view, that it is ″okay″ to think out-loud, and to change their mind following discussion. Adults can extend the learning by sharing information at appropriate times and levels.