Teaching and learning in the science classroom: The methodological challenges of research

This essay addresses some of the methodological challenges of conducting research on teaching and learning in the classroom. In particular, it looks at how talk in the classroom develops, and how communication patterns are constructed over several lessons. Such investigations require an analysis of individual moments as well as longer sequences of teaching and learning, and there are few examples in the literature. The aim here is to describe one research approach, and then use it to investigate how subject-matter progression is achieved in that particular classroom. The data is from a sequence of lessons in biology, in a classroom characterised by pupils’ active role in teaching and learning. The research approach is described and illustrated empirically with three short episodes from the classroom. The episodes together marked something of a turning point in the pupils’ learning, and show some communicative processes involved when a genetic explanation is introduced when teaching biological evolution. These conversations, involving pupil objections, pupils taking not-knowing positions, and traditional patterns of teacher questioning, capture significant moments for the pupils’ continued learning. The essay considers research timescales, and suggests adding a fourth dimension—the potential for change—to the classical didactical triad.