However, there are also occasions when teachers bring the children together to share ideas and to talk about some activity. With some attention on the teacher's part, these occasions can become opportunities for investigating children's thinking. The following guidelines were formulated with teachers who participated in a study of children's science learning. These guidelines were intended to facilitate the sort of discussions that are sustained by child-initiated questions and ideas and that allow children some control over the direction or drift of their remarks. In such settings, interactions among children may well bring out lines of thinking that are not so evident in individual interviews or group lessons, when children must deal more directly with the adult's agenda.
Children shape the agenda of the discussion.
The teacher sets the stage for conversation but does not dominate it. Children are allowed time and space to formulate ideas in their own terms and to pursue aspects of a topic that are of greatest interest to them. In general, teachers refrain from correcting or modifying children's comments. Participation by all children is encouraged. Teachers steer the discussion in a way that encourages comments from each child at some point.