#167: How Simulation Design Shapes Academically Productive Talk: An Epistemic Network Analysis of Teacher Discourse in Middle-School Physics

Dialogic teaching, through Academically Productive Talk (APT), enhances student learning. While digital simulations are common in science education, their specific impact on teacher discourse patterns remains underexplored. This study examines how simulation design, Multiple Representations (MR) versus Single Representation (SR), shapes whole-class discourse structure and teachers’ use of APT moves. One teacher and 99 eighth-grade students from two classes in Western China participated. Using Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) and discourse analysis of 147 teacher talk turns, we compared APT patterns between two conditions. ENA revealed distinct strategic repertoires: the MR condition showed an integrated, collaborative network centered on reasoning and building on ideas, involving more students in shorter, focused turns. The SR condition exhibited a linear, teacher-guided pattern dominated by elicitation and challenge, with longer explanations from fewer students. Overall, simulation design relates to teacher facilitation and student participation, suggesting that multiple representational tools may afford more collaborative-dialogic classrooms.