In the last decade classroom researchers have begun to show interest in how students think during classroom instruction. The impetus for this shift in focus comes from a research paradigm which proposes that students' in-class thought processes mediate the effects of teaching processes on student learning and that studies of student thinking could therefore provide a key to a fuller understanding of how teaching processes influence student learning. Such studies have implications for teacher education and improving teaching.
This paper provides an account of a descriptive study of student thinking. It documents aspects of student thinking during regular lessons in a Grade Eleven Biology classroom and a Grade Ten Social Science classroom. Access to student thinking was obtained by using videotapes of lessons to stimulate recall of in-lesson thinking in post-lesson interviews. Analysis of students' self-report data provided insights into the nature of, and factors influencing, student thinking. It also called into question the value of some conventional wisdom about teaching and approaches to research.