Tips on guiding kindergarteners

to participate in large-group
discussions in science

hat do you get when you add 20 kindergarten students and a student-led
science discussion for the first time?
Mass chaos! So, after taking some time
to recover, we began to reflect on what we could change
to help orchestrate quality science discussions in our
kindergarten class. How could we empower young
learners to partake in science discussions that would
include participating, negotiating, taking turns, and
listening to others? From these reflections, a Science
Conversation plan was formed and implemented.
What we found was that student-led discussions can
begin in kindergarten. These young students are very
capableand they have a lot to say!

Say Hello to Chaos

Our work together started when Julie, a kindergarten

teacher, and Sara, a research assistant, met at a professional development workshop. Julie was searching for

By Julie Sander and Sara Nelson

ways to get her students more involved in classroom
science conversations and Sara recommended some articles on the topic. Thus, our brainstorming began. We
wanted to incorporate student conversations into the
districts science curriculum that covered the topics of
push/pull, living/nonliving, sink/float, and sponges.
To begin, we focused on the sponge unit. In this unit,
students are given the opportunity to observe, sort,
compare, measure, and investigate sponges while they
engage in the inquiry process. The resource book for
this unit is Squishy, Squashy Sponges: Early Childhood
Unit Guide for Teachers (Terrific Science Press 2003).
Gallass (1995) work on Science Talks provided
us with initial guidance. Additional information on
science conversations with children was found in the
book Questions, Claims, and Evidence (Norton-Meier,
et al. 2008). Both books highlighted how conversations
can assist students in developing communication skills
and their ability to share and defend their ideas in sciFebruary 2009 43

ence. Anxious to implement student-led discussions in

the classroom, Julie shared these thoughts with her 20
kindergarten students:
Class, I want to try something new with you. We
are going to be learning about sponges for our science unit, and I need to know what you know about
sponges. There are some rules to our sharing time:
I want you to talk with each other, pretend Im not
here, look at your friends, listen to what your friends
say, and dont raise your hand. Lets try it! What do
you know about sponges?
The outcome was not what we envisioned. Students
were all talking at once, looking directly at the teacher,
getting louder and louder. It soon became obvious that
more guidance was needed.

Science Talks, Take Two

To improve the quality of our student-led discussions, the

following goals were developed after our initial attempt:
Students will take turns sharing science ideas/connections.
Students will talk with each other (not the teacher)
about science ideas/connections.
Students will share any disagreements with peer
science statements using friendly voices.
Most students will share science ideas/connections.
The teacher will record statements regarding student understanding on a given science subject.

Figure 1.

Photograph courtesy of the authors

Concept map of the science conversation.

With these goals clearly in mind, we implemented our

new plan. Students sat in a large circle on the carpet.
A small squishy ball determined the speaker and was
tossed back and forth between the students. The following rules were shared with the students:
You (students) are the teachers. My job is to write
down all of your ideas on sticky notes.
If you (students) are holding the ball, you may share
your ideas. I will write down your ideas, and then you
must say a classmates name before you pass the ball
to them (this prevents several children jumping in the
middle of the circle and fighting over the object).
Once in awhile, I will ask you (students) to raise
your hands if you havent shared any ideas. Then,
the speaker will pass the ball to a new person.
If you (students) dont think someone is saying the
right thing, you may use your friendly voice and say
what you think is right. Its great to have different
ideas and share them.
The ball=speaker rule was relaxed as time went
on to promote a more natural student to student dialogue. Disagreements with peer statements may arise
and are encouraged. Students can be initially hesitant
to share conflicting opinions, so the teacher may have
to recognize student reactions or facial expressions.
Jimmy, I notice you have something to say, please
share with the rest of the class. When there is a disagreement, explain that a a sticky note with a question
mark on it will be placed beside
the debatable statement and a
science experiment may be set
up to answer the question. For
example, a student wondered,
Do sponges with bigger holes
hold more water? so a sticky
note was placed by the statement and students followed
up with an activity in which
they tested a variety of sponges
by filling them with water and
emptying the sponge into a cup.
Results were recorded on chart
paper and discussed. The question mark sticky note was then
changed to reflect the results.

Inside a Science
Talk

It was our initial talk for our

sponges unit and the ball was
bouncing around the circle.
A very quiet student, Tommy,
shared, Sponges are found in
44 Science and Children

Science Conversations for Young Learners

the ocean. Other students replied, No they arent.
Tommy claimed again, Yes they are, they are found in
the ocean. More students agreed that sponges are not
found in the ocean. Recognizing Tommys frustration
with the conflict, Julie intervened and said, Lets put a
question mark next to this idea, and we will search for
the answer right away.
The following day, we read the book, Sponges Are
Skeletons (1993) by Barbara Juster Esbensen. It was
a joy to see the proud look on Tommys face when
students discovered that natural sponges are indeed
found in the ocean.
Similar science conversations were continued
throughout the unit. We noticed that, with practice,
students were soon better able to conduct conversations
with less teacher support.

Connecting to the Standards

This article relates to the following National Science

Education Standards (NRC 1996):
Teaching Standards
Standard B: Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning.
Standard E: Teachers of science develop communities of science learners that reflect the
intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry and the
attitudes and social values conducive to science
learning.
National Research Council (NRC). 1996. National science education standards. Washington DC: National
Academy Press.

Visually Organizing Conversations

To visually organize the conversations, we stapled

large sheets of white paper to a bulletin board to record
students ideas. During the conversation, most of the
students initial ideas were examples of how sponges
are used (e.g., wash tables, cars, body).
Based on the students statements, we then created
a concept map (Figure 1). Ideas about which students
did not agree on were placed on the concept map under
a question mark. As the unit progressed, students continued to review their ideas and organize their concept
map after conversations. Loops of masking tape, linking words (e.g., like, because, and) written on sentence
strips, and a marker for connecting lines were made
available for the students. Having the students assist
with constructing the concept map allowed them to
see their science conversation ideas in a more concrete
form. For more information on concept mapping, we
recommend the book Questions, Claims, and Evidence
(Norton-Meier, et al. 2008).

Moving Forward

Initially, we assessed students only on their participation in the science conversations using a checklist that
matched-up with our district report card. The checklist
listed each students name and had a space to write
notes about the student. The checklist was helpful during discussions to see at a glance which students were
participating. However, as students get more comfortable with the science conversations, the checklist could
be adapted to reflect the developing understandings of
the content objectives of the unit.
Science conversations have been very helpful in
providing information on students prior knowledge
and can be used as often as needed throughout a unit
to clarify and share science ideas. Gagnon and Abell
(2008) support the importance of science discussions

as part of a quality science program. Our personal observations have noted that science conversations have
an amazing effect on students and their role in the
classroom. Students recognize that they are in charge
of their learning. So let go, enjoy a little chaos, and let
your students take control! n
Julie Sander (jsander@boone.k12.ia.us) is a kindergarten teacher at Page Elementary in Boone, Iowa.
Sara Nelson (sdnelson@iastate.edu), a former elementary teacher, is a graduate assistant at Iowa State
University in Ames, Iowa.

Acknowledgment
This article was funded in part by a State of Iowa MathScience Partnership Grant administered by Dr. Brian
Hand of the University of Iowa and Dr. Lori NortonMeier of Iowa State University. The authors would like
to thank them for their support.

References
Esbensen, B. 1993. Sponges are skeletons. New York: Harper
Collins.
Gagnon, M., and S. K. Abell. 2008. Explaining science. Science and Children 45(5): 6061.
Gallas, K. 1995. Talking their way into science: Hearing childrens questions and theories, responding with curricula.
New York: Teachers College Press.
Norton-Meier, L., B. Hand, L. Hockenberry, and K. Wise.
2008. Questions, claims, and evidence: The important place
of argument in childrens science writing. Arlington, VA:
NSTA Press.
Terrific Science Press. 2003. Squishy, squashy sponges: Early
childhood unit guide for teachers. Middletown, OH: Terrific Science Press.
February 2009 45