Students listen attentively to one another. Students elaborate and build upon ideas and each others' contributions. Students work toward the goal of clarifying or expanding a proposition. Students provide evidence for claims and arguments. Students identify the knowledge that may not be available yet which is needed to address an issue.
Students construct explanation.
Students formulate conjectures and hypotheses. Students test their own understanding of concepts. Classroom talk is accountable to generally accepted standards of reasoning. Students challenge the quality of each other's evidence and reasoning. Classroom talk is accountable to standards of evidence appropriate to the subject matter.