Interactions

Abstract

In this Part IV, I present multi-level analyses of student-student and teacher-student interactions. These include ethnographic (macro) descriptions of participation patterns, meso- and micro-analyses describing the mediational work in achieving agreements, and analyses at all three levels to understand the formation of networks through which knowledge diffuses throughout the classroom. The central argument is this. Students arrive in our classrooms with a considerable competence to organize their group activities, and to arrive at shared understandings through joint work with others. They draw on a range of mediating resources to support their arguments, they negotiate turn-taking and their contribution to joint products, and they maintain conversational topics over extended periods of time. This knowledge is a basis for working with others in small groups and in classroom communities.