Student Collaboration in the Learning Cycle

When we think about collaboration across the curriculum, it is important to have structures in place to facilitate meaningful conversations among our students. “Lines of Communication” is an instructional strategy for students to experience conversational discourse and use the power of inquiry to impact their thinking.
Lines of Communication (AVID)

You will notice Lines of Communication can be organized around a series of questions on a particular topic. In Mrs.Thelke’s 6th Grade Social Studies class, the students were thinking about one very complicated question...



The students had the opportunity to explore this question, engaging with one another and other resources to form their own opinion about this topic. When they came together to discuss with one another, they were quite evenly divided on the issue.



They shared their viewpoints, pushed on each other’s thinking, asked questions of one another, and respectfully disagreed with others. While some students maintained their original stance, others changed their thinking upon hearing the ideas of their classmates and reassessing their own beliefs. Throughout the process, conversational moves and analytical thinking were evident. This demonstrates the powerful work that has been taught across all content areas to promote meaningful collaboration.

In the end, more students ended up in the middle of the group, sharing that they were questioning their own thinking and were unable to take a side at that moment based on the new ideas they were grappling with. Look at the joy on their faces in this process of discovery!



Throughout this inquiry process, students become comfortable in the knowledge that the act of learning is inquiry and that exploration and questioning should be the foundation of our beliefs. Following the discussion, students had time to write and reflect on their inquiry process and the transformation of their thinking. This reflection is so important to connect their new thinking to previous knowledge, review the testing they have done, and complete the learning cycle.



This conversation, learning, and discourse is a celebration for our students and society as a whole!