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Effective Discourse Strategies for Creating Inclusive STEM Classrooms

December 5, 2022

This session is designed to help teachers deepen their understanding of the effective and practical strategies to facilitate academic discourse that promotes inclusive science and STEM classrooms. Participants will learn of a variety of instructional strategies to ensure that all students have access to scientific discourse, and opportunities to collaborate with peers, through intentional planning, including formative assessment classroom techniques (FACTS) from Page Keeley’s Uncovering Student Ideas texts, including commit and toss, pro/con pairs, structured think-pair-share, and more. In addition, we will be discussing the shift away from traditional talk patterns- like I-R-E (Initiate, Response, Evaluation) and towards Productive Talk to promote an inclusive science and STEM classroom where discourse supports student sensemaking. Finally, we will provide resources and discussion around the “lead4ward Instructional Strategies Playlist”, which provides teachers with detailed descriptions of specific, instructional strategies. Links to additional discourse resources will also be provided. The instructional strategies used in this presentation will promote student engagement, differentiation, and scientific understanding to help form a more inclusive learning environment where all students can participate in scientific discourse.

  • For questions regarding this resource, please contact .
  • Contact Name: Rebecca Garelli
  • Email Address: rebecca.garelli@azed.gov