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An Investigation into Open-Ended Student Dialogue in an Object-Oriented Year 3/4 See-Think-Wonder Assembly
Deal, Jackie Rudd, Ben
Deal, Jackie
Rudd, Ben
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Date
2026
Educational Level
ISCED Level 1 Primary education
Curriculum Area
Geographical Setting
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Abstract
Context: This practitioner inquiry explores the affordances of object-oriented see-think-wonder assemblies on student dialogue in a primary setting. The school has a schoolwide emphasis on dialogue and recently moved to a new, much larger site. The lead practitioner sought to reflect on the unique benefits of the see-think-wonder assembly in a single class setting.
Aims: The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which one class of 19 mixed year 3/4 students have open-ended dialogues around objects, in this case an Iron Age Iceni coin. It investigates whether the object-based assemblies can invite further reasoning in the context of group dialogue, as opposed to closed epistemologies which yield short responses.
Design and methodology: Data was collected from a mixed year 3/4 class (aged 7-9) through audio recordings of the student discussion in one class assembly and was later discussed and analysed by a lead practitioner at the school. The lead practitioner’s perspectives form most of this paper, with her ideas being incorporated into this research report.
Findings: The results demonstrate that students were able to use the object and dialogue skills to engage in speculative thinking, link to recent learning, deliberately punctuate challenges to the views of others (CH). The transcript demonstrated that students most frequently made their reasoning explicit (R) by providing a rationale for their answers, while building on (B) was recognised as an area for improvement for this particular group.
Conclusions and implications: The open epistemology behind the object-oriented assembly allowed the class to observe first before extending into cross-disciplinary speculation. The value of these smaller assemblies as an opportunity for listening to and engaging in dialogue with peers was emphasised by the lead practitioner. Future research cycles could investigate methods which could help the mixed year 3/4 class more effectively build on the responses of their peers, while also examining how different forms of object representation and collaboration with local museums influence the quality and
direction of classroom dialogue.
Description
Keywords (free text)
dialogic education, see-think-wonder assemblies, speculative thinking in discussion, museum objects, cross-disciplinary discussion