This essay challenges assumptions that those labelled as "high achievers" are in some way "held back" by those perceived as having lower initial capability. By exploring collaborative pedagogical approaches and focussing on my experiences with two students, with widely differing initial capabilities, and exploring how they have…

We compared classroom interactions during two episodes in a seventh grade virtual mathematics class. Both episodes were drawn from virtual live lessons utilizing different lesson layouts. We investigated how mathematical knowledge was negotiated in both episodes. The results show that the layout of live lessons had an effect on how students shared…

When inquiry-based learning is designed for a collaborative context, the interactions that arise in the learning environment can become fairly complex. While the learning effectiveness of such learning environments has been reported in the literature, there have been fewer studies on the students' learning processes. To address this, the article…

Much has been written recently about the role of talk in content-area learning, including science learning. However, there is still much to be learned about how teachers begin to engage students in the kinds of peer-to-peer conversations that help them make sense of their investigations in science and that advance their conceptual understandings.…

Drawing on data collected during the second year of a longitudinal qualitative study that followed over 10 Latino/a bilingual students, this article foregrounds the experiences of participants during their sixth-grade year. The principle data sources included structured and unstructured interviews with teachers and students, school observations,…