EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 15 page 355

2. The student just copied what the partner had said.


3. The student didn’t say anything at all in response to the help.

As a teacher, you will want to encourage students to apply ideas that they have learned from their
peers. Students should take the good ideas that they receive from their peers and use those ideas in some
way. This can include restating the explanation or using the information to solve the same problem or a
new problem.
Using what you have just learned about uptake of ideas, reconsider the Reflecting on Student
Thinking at the beginning of this chapter. You should pay close attention to how students respond to
explanations or procedural descriptions that they hear.

Problem 15.3 Understanding students’ thinking: Forms of uptake

As a teacher, it will important for you to be able to routinely identify the forms of uptake you

observe in discussions. In each of these short examples, identify the kind of uptake

demonstrated by Student B.

1. From a group discussing genetics in high school biology
   A. I would say that this is a recessive gene.
   B. Yeah. It’s got to be recessive. It’s the only thing that makes sense.


2. From a group discussing a Robert Frost poem in high school English
   A. This line—But I have miles to go before I sleep—shows that he doesn’t have time to stay
   and take in all the beauty.
   B. Yeah. It shows how busy he is, and there’s a sense of sadness that he has so little time to
   pause.


3. From a group discussing World War II in sixth grade.
   A. The Americans were pretty much all or the war, especially in Massachusetts. That’s
   where it all started.
   B. Fifteen to 20 percent of the people were Tories. That’s a lot. And I bet that some of
   these were in Massachusetts.


4. From a group discussing a photosynthesis experiment in seventh grade.
   A. I think that plants get their energy from the soil.
   B. No, it’s from light.


5. From a group discussing Jack and the Beanstock in second gradel.
   A. Jack was foolish to sell his whole cow for some beans.
   B. A cow costs a lot more money than a bag of beans.

Response:

1. This is simple acceptance. B merely repeats what A says.


2. This is discussion of ideas. B elaborates what A said, so this is co-construction. They are
   building ideas jointly.


3. This is a discussion of ideas in which B critiques A. B presents a counterargument to A’s claim
   that Massachusetts were nearly all for the war.


4. Using the categories in Table 15.2, this is rejection. B rejects A’s answer without elaboration.
   Because there is no elaboration, it is not a critique. Using the categories in Table 15.1, you
   could also view this as terminal help. B simply provides what he thinks is the correct answer,
   without any explanation.


5. This is co-construction. B has elaborated on why it was foolish of Jack to sell the cow (the
   cow is worth more money—it costs more).