Walk into almost any elementary classroom and you’ll see the teacher introduce a question and then immediately direct kids to “turn and talk” with a partner. I’ve seen this happen as often as every five or ten minutes. And I’ve seen kids have some lively discussions. But here’s what else I’ve seen:
· Kids having a discussion about the intended topic but saying things that don’t make a lot of sense· Both kids staring into space, waiting for the teacher to say that time is up To be sure, there’s truth to the idea that interaction has educational benefits. Learning doesn’t happen unless students are engaged, and group and pair work can be very engaging for students. But it’s possible to have engagement without learning. And according to, described by Jill Barshay in the Hechinger Report, that may be what often happens.