Contemporary views on learning highlight the urgent need for renewal of pedagogic interactions, especially approaches that foster more student dialogue, collaborative learning methods and regulation of learning. In addition, the new Finnish Curriculum for basic education (POPS 2014), issued in 2016, emphasizes learner-centred approaches e.g., inquiry based, technology-enhanced and project based learning.  In accordance with these curricular changes, Finland is undergoing school redesign projects replacing traditional walled-in classrooms and rows of desks for more flexible, informal and multimodal open plan designs.

This presentation is based on an on-going study dealing with micro-level research on classroom dialogues in ill-defined learning environments, such as open plan schools where the space and materials do not systematically provide a pre-defined structure. The overall aim of the research project is to investigate theoretical facilitators, in particular, students’ self- and co-regulated learning competencies and teacher and peer scaffolding, as contributors to productive collaborative classroom dialogue in naturally evolving interactions in open learning environments on basic education.

Open plan schools or open learning environments are on their way to Finland as well as elsewhere, linked to the curriculum revision of basic education, and the current study is conducted in two recently opened open plan primary schools that are amongst the first ones in Finland. It is argued that open plan schools can better afford learning in teams, grouping students more flexibly, and developing more coherent and comprehensive school curriculum. This study and seeks to contribute how to analyse critical incidences of student dialogues in open learning environments. This far there is scant micro-level research on classroom dialogues in ill-defined learning environments.. Furthermore, there is a lack of research on how teachers can implement relevant practices to afford effective learning in classroom environments which require much self-regulation from the individual and shared regulation from the group.

The work is grounded in the sociocultural (e.g. Ludwigsen et al, 2011; Vygotsky, 1978) and socio-cognitive model of learning (e.g. Zimmerman, 2002, 2008) emphasizing learning as a complex social and metacognitive process in social interaction and involves both skills and the will to learn in a collaborative process. The theoretical frameworks are brought together with conversation analysis (e.g. Sidnell & Stivers, 2012) for the analysis of the details of the learning interaction processes.

The study is conducted in two recently opened open plan schools and one open plan classroom that are amongst the first ones in Finland. The data comprise videotaped and transcribed interaction (approximately 8 school day video recordings) in two classrooms (one classroom 2 teachers, assistants and approximately 50 students), ethnographic memos by the researcher, and teacher and student interviews. The video data is collected with multiple high-definition cameras and wireless microphones which enabled the capturing of interaction processes in high detail and without interfering in the processes. The video data analyses combines and applies multimodal Conversation analysis (e.g. Sidnell & Stivers, 2012) and sociocultural discourse analysis for the analysis of the details of the learning interaction processes. Conversation analysis enables close examination of action as it unfolds to analyse how participants co-consruct social situations and social relations across sequences of interaction. With the conversation analysis it has been possible to recognize recurring patterns in interaction, and made a systematic collection of sequences concerning a certain phenomenon and a search for similarities and differences between cases. Data is also approached from a multimodal perspective that took into account the non-verbal aspects of the interaction, such as gestures, direction of gaze, prosody and body posture.

The presentation is based on the results of the first sub-study in which the aim was to analyse how do teachers offer direct scaffolding (e.g. interactional, at the moment level) and indirect scaffolding (e.g. environmental scripts) to facilitate students’ learning dialogues and regulation of learning. The results illustrate how the learning practices in open plan classrooms are built around supporting students’ collaborative knowledge construction and how the teachers used questions to provide an interactional space for students to display their knowledge or to help seeking information. Overall, the results illustrate how everyday interactions in open plan schools are also much about learning to learn and expanding the capacity to participate in dialogues and one’s learning.

POPS 2014 = Finnish National Curriculum for Basic Education (2014). National Board of Education. http://www.oph.fi/download/163777_perusopetuksen_opetussuunnitelman_perusteet_2014.pdf Rasmussen, I., & Ludvigsen, S. (2010). Learning with computer tools and environments: A sociocultural perspective. International handbook of psychology in education, 399-435. Sidnell, J. & Stivers, T. (2012). The Handbook of Conversation Analysis. Malden: Wiley & Blackwell. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Zimmerman, B. J. (2008). Investigating self-regulation and motivation: Historical background, methodological developments, and future prospects. American Educational Research Journal, 45(1), 166-183.