Classroom discussion is frequently proposes as an essential part of democratic citizenship education. Literature, however, pays little attention to what kind of discussion is most effective and how teachers can facilitate a discussion. This study aims to contribute to the development of a framework for analysing the characteristics of classroom discussions and the different roles teachers can adopt in guiding a discussion on controversial issues. In addition, we investigated how the way teachers guide the discussion is related to the structure (...) and content features of the discussion. The framework was used to analyse five classroom discussions in secondary education. Our framework appeared to be useful for revealing differences in the structure and content features of the classroom discussions and in the way teachers guide the discussion. The results also indicated that a high degree of teacher regulation was related to high content quality and more participation from students. A high degree of stu... (shrink)

This study investigated the relationship between the development of students? self-regulated learning and students? perceptions of the learning environment in terms of autonomy support, the emphasis on relevance and collaborative learning. In addition, we compared innovative learning environments that aim to enhance self-regulated learning with traditional learning environments. Questionnaires for measuring self-regulated learning and perceptions of the learning environment were administered by 648 students. Self-regulated learning was measured at the start of secondary education and again half way through the first (...) year. The results point to the importance of how students perceive the learning environment for self-regulated learning. There was a positive relationship between autonomy support and relevance and self-regulated learning. Furthermore, students in innovative environments perceived more autonomy support, more emphasis on relevance and more collaborative learning than those in traditional environments. Students in innovative environments, however, reported no more self-regulated learning than students in traditional environments. (shrink)

How to teach value-loaded critical thinking in philosophical classroom discussions? An important aim of education is that students learn to think critically about moral issues. Philosophy is one of the subjects that is expected to contribute to this aim, because of its subject matter and the dialogic teaching methods. The aim of this study is to explore how philosophical classroom discussions can promote value-loaded critical thinking. First, we discuss the work of Dewey, Arendt and Habermas on moral reasoning and educational (...) literature on critical thinking, in order to find characteristics of philosophical classroom discussions in which students engage in value-loaded critical thinking. These characteristics are: the discussions are 1) genuine dialogues, in which 2) logical reasoning and 3) moral values are addressed in 4) a transfer-oriented manner. Second, we translate these characteristics into teaching strategies, based on empirical research complemented with examples from philosophical classroom discussions. We conclude that philosophical classroom discussions might promote value-loaded critical thinking by open and critical investigation of values; with an emphasis on logically valid reasoning (in the context of meaningful examples). However, we recommend further development of teaching strategies for perspective-taking, de- and recontextualisation, and reflection. (shrink)