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Teachers conduct clinical conversations with their pupils on a daily basis. In
these talks, teachers improve their understanding of their pupils' difficulties and
use this improved understanding to determine what pedagogical approach or a
teaching action to apply. In many cases, these talks take place after a pupil claims
a general statement that indicates some difficulty, such as “I don't understand,”
and the teacher's intention is to uncover the source of the pupil's difficulty.
Activity 46 highlights a different situation, in which a pupil is not aware at
all about his wrong perception. In this case, the interview serves as a means to
expose the pupil's understanding and as a teaching intervention that guides the
pupil to find the correct answer. Based on this activity, the students in the MTCS
course should increase their awareness of the fact that sometimes, instead of
telling pupils that their answer is wrong, a series of questions can lead pupils not
only to derive this conclusion by themselves, but also to correct their answers.
Activity 46: A Clinical Conversation with a Pupil as a Means to Reveal Alternative
Conceptions
• Stage A: A clinical conversation with a pupil, work in small teams
The students in the MTCS course are given a transcription of a conversation
between a researcher and a pupil, David. At several points they are asked
to stop reading and answer several questions. The activity is presented in
Table 6.3 .
• Stage B: Class discussion
After the students finish their work, it is recommended to facilitate a class
discussion which concentrates on the last two parts of the worksheet: David's
conceptions and planning an optional series of questions for David. It is also
optional to split the discussion into several parts, i.e., a short discussion after
each part of the worksheet.
It is important to deliver the message that the researcher could ask another
question in this conversation which might lead to either similar or different
pupil's conclusions. Specifically, while the researcher's questions related to
the fact that David assumes that the variable a contains many values, other
problems in David's answer could be addressed, such as the fact that he used
random numbers instead of reading the input, and the fact that he did not
use any repetitive (loop) instruction. The discussion may focus on specific
questions that may lead David to realize his difficulties with respect to these
issues.
 
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