Conference Program

This abstract presents the results of an action research study conducted in a third-grade primary class. The research-training project originated in a thesis developed within the Primary Teacher Education degree program and was later pursued by the teacher-researcher in her professional context. The study explored the implementation of dialogic teaching practices in science education through the use of structured classroom discussion and ODIS (Discussion Observation), a tool for analyzing dialogic interactions (Zecca, Perucchini & Bertolini, 2025). The research originated from the intention to move beyond a transmissive approach to scientific knowledge and instead promote a learning environment in which knowledge is democratically constructed and shared through dialogue among students and between students and the teacher (Pontecorovo, Ajello, Zucchermaglio, 1998, p. 184).

The main objective of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of discussion as a pedagogical tool for fostering active participation and eliciting students’ prior knowledge about natural phenomena. In particular, the research examined how discussion can support the negotiation of meaning, the formulation of collective hypotheses, and the transformation of disagreement into a cognitive resource, thereby promoting deeper and more durable understanding of scientific concepts through the co-construction of knowledge. A further objective was to explore the formative potential of the ODIS coding process for the teacher, encouraging reflective practice and supporting the intentional design of classroom discussions.

The action research was conducted over a three-month period. After selecting specific scientific topics, the teacher initiated classroom discussions based on open problem questions (Ripamonti, 2016). Data were collected through audio recordings of the discussion sessions, which were subsequently transcribed and analyzed using the ODIS coding framework.

The findings indicate that dialogic practices reduced students’ fear of making mistakes and encouraged participation, including from those who were usually less inclined to express their ideas. The discussions contributed to transforming the classroom into a community of inquiry in which students learned to question assumptions, support claims with evidence, and develop more structured forms of reasoning. Scientific knowledge emerged as a collectively negotiated and provisional understanding, while error was reframed as a productive element in the process of knowledge construction. The analysis also enabled the teacher-researcher to reflect on the communicative dynamics of both students and teacher intervention, fostering an increasingly solid awareness of the educational intentionality underlying the pedagogical choices implemented (Zecca. 2012).

Overall, the study highlights the importance of authentic dialogic practices in primary science education. Classroom discussion functions not merely as verbal interaction but as a central mechanism for the active, democratic, and shared construction of knowledge, fostering both conceptual understanding and the development of critical and participatory citizenship.