Stimulate learning through dialogue and interaction
Dialogue and interaction mean making room for a variation of ideas, perspectives, feelings and ways of acting and learning from them, in a guided and structured way. Through dialogue and interaction, you bring society into the classroom and give your students the opportunity to play with and learn how to work with this diversity. It will not only stimulate a warm and safe environment for everyone to learn, but also increases students ’s individual learning success, because of the continuous way of getting feedback. Moreover, it lets students learn and experience intentional dialogue and interaction builds a (school) community.
If you choose to work with societal issues as rich learning content, as we recommend you to, students need each other to help explore and investigate different perspectives, knowledge, norms, values, … and to explore solutions to tackle those issues. Dialogue and interaction provide a way to do so. Therefore, you need to support students in practicing respectful interactions, listening in an active way and being curious about others.
This video explores what learning through dialogue and interaction means and how you can implement it during your lessons.
Student goals
Students will learn to:
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articulate their own thinking.
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listen actively to others.
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seek out multiple perspectives on an issue before making their own judgement.
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identify similarities and differences in opinions.
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demonstrate flexibility in opinion formation.
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understand others better by imagining how things look from their perspective.
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demonstrate interest and openness towards other people ‘s views and experiences.
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show fairness and respect in cooperation with others/peers.
Test yourself as a teacher
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How would you explain this principle to a colleague of yours? If possible, put this into practice (it will oblige you to come to the essence, be precise and address things that remain unclear)!
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What would you tell your colleague about how to tackle this principle in the classroom?
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Use the 3 – 2 – 1 Bridge Thinking Routine. Write down:
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3 words or ideas you take with you
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2 questions you might have about the principle
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1 drawing that summarizes this principle in one glance
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Reflective questions
BEFORE implementing working methods
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What do you already do that stimulates dialogue and interaction in your class?
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How do you feel about creating (more) space for dialogue and interaction in your class?
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What would be a small, feasible, but significant step further in stimulating dialogue and interaction with your students?
AFTER implementing working methods
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What was the result of your experience? (think about both positive and negative aspects)
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Which aspects of your experience would you like to repeat?
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What would you like to change and how would you change it?
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What will be your first, next step?
