Responsiveness Among Peers Leads to Productive Disciplinary Engagement

Responsive teaching is the extent to which teachers attempt to understand students' ideas and respond to those ideas in moment-to-moment interactions. We propose that responsiveness does not only apply to teacher-student interactions, but also to interactions among peers. We analyze a small group discussion in a professional development course for K-12 teachers about energy usefulness and identify responsive listening among peers. We observe that learners engage with each other's ideas and further inquire about the reasoning behind those ideas. We claim that responsive listening among peers promotes productive disciplinary engagement which results in the refinement of their understanding about energy.