Maintaining Cognitively Challenging Discourse Through Student Silence

Student engagement in high-level, cognitively demanding instruction is pivotal for student learning. However, many teachers are unable to maintain such instruction, especially in instances of non-responsive students. This case study of three middle school teachers explores prompts that aim to move classroom discussions past student silence. Prompt sequences were categorized into Progressing, Focusing, and Redirecting Actions, and then analyzed for maintenance of high levels of cognitive demand. Results indicate that specific prompt types are prone to either raise or diminish the cognitive demand of a discussion. While Focusing Actions afforded students opportunities to process information on a more meaningful level, Progressing Actions typically lowered cognitive demand in an effort to get through mathematics content or a specific method or procedure. Prompts that raise cognitive demand typically start out as procedural or concrete and progress to include students’ thoughts or ideas about mathematical concepts. This study aims to discuss five specific implications on how teachers can use prompting techniques to effectively maintain cognitively challenging discourse through moments of student silence.