For suggestions about how Talk Factory can be incorporated into lessons on investigating evaporation...

Copyright 2011 Open University

For suggestions about how Talk Factory can be incorporated into lessons on investigating evaporation please see the associated lesson plans on the Talk Factory website. The lesson plans can be adapted for any science topics.

Talk Factory Primary Science: instructions for use

Supporting children‘s whole class discussion in KS2 science


Downloading Talk Factory

1. Go to http://www8.open.ac.uk/creet/main/TalkFactory and click on the Talk Factory Primary Science download link

2. Select Save and navigate to where you want the software to save to e.g. desktop3. When the download is complete, click on Open Folder. 4. Navigate to the Talk Factory Primary Science WinZip file you have just downloaded (e.g.

on your desktop) and double click on it. You will see:

4. The file is zipped and you need to unzip it: right click on the Talk Factory folder5. Select ‘extract’ from the dropdown menu. 6. Navigate to where you want the file saved to: e.g. desktop. Click extract.7. The software will now appear in a folder called Talk Factory Primary Science on your

desktop. Double click on this folder. To run the software double click on the Talk Factory Executable Jar File:


Talk Factory is designed to generate graphical representations of the content of students' whole class discussions in real time. It is designed for use on an Interactive Whiteboard.

Start using Talk Factory by tapping on the ‘click here to begin’ button

Tailoring Talk Factory to your needs

TO START A NEW TALK FACTORY FILE (do not complete this if you want to open a saved file from a previous lesson)First enter a file name, class name, date and time. This will enable you to go back to this file in future. The file will be saved automatically (as an Excel file) to your desktop.

TO EDIT THE TALK FACTORY RULESHere, you can edit the rules for talking which appear in Talk Factory. We recommend you use the existing default rules initially. Once your class has mastered these rules, you can enter new ones. The first line is the rule and subsequent lines are examples of that rule in practice.There are three positive rules on the left and three negative rules on the right.Note: there is a limit to how much text you can type into the rules boxes.

TO OPEN A SAVED FILE: click ‘Open saved file’. Navigate to the (excel) file you want to open and click OK.



Talk Factory and hypothesis testing in primary science

Talk Factory is designed based on a hypothesis testing approach. This approach is represented in the Talk Factory in four screens:

1. Classic screen supports whole class discussions about the topic being investigated

2. Groups screen supports students in reaching a consensus about their hypothesis

3. Planning screen supports discussion about fair testing, planning, and carrying out an investigation

4. Conclusions screen supports discussion about the findings of the investigations

Each screen is discussed in detail on the following pages

Classic Screen

• The Classic screen can be used to represent students' discussion in any lesson and task and includes the core features of the software

• The processes of argumentation are represented in Talk Factory as six talk rules (both positive and negative elements of argumentation)

• Sentence openers are displayed to guide students' understanding of how to begin dialogic responses that follow these rules

• The software requires you to tap on each rule as a child makes an utterance. It then transforms your input into a bar graph quantifying the occurrence of each event

• The horizontal bar shows the unfolding sequence, or timeline, of desirable ('happy face') and undesirable ('sad face') events.

Using the OPTIONS button

When you right click on the options button you can:

1. Undo your last action. You can repeat this as many times as you wish2. Save and return to menu. This saves your file and returns to the menu (as shown on the previous page)3. Close the application. When you close the application the software automatically saves


Groups screen

This screen is used to represent students' suggestions about factors each group could investigate.The rules diagram and the graph work in the same way as in the classic screen and can resource class discussions about possible factors.The table bottom left represents the suggestions of each group. Students can choose what they want to call their group and you can edit the name of each group by double clicking in the appropriate cell. (e.g. here group 1 has been renamed ‘Lions’) The table bottom right allows you to enter students' suggestions about the factors their group could investigate, from the whole class. The cells in this table can be edited by double clicking on them and typing in new text. In the left hand table you can enter the factor/s which each group wants to investigate (e.g. temperature). To do this, tap on the appropriate cell in the right hand box and then tap on the group’s cell in the left hand box (e.g. here, Lions want to investigate temperature and Giraffes want to investigate wind)

Using the OPTIONS buttonThe options button functions as in the classic screen. The undo choice in the options can undo your taps on the rules diagram and the graph only


To edit factor choices in the left hand table: left click on the group name then right click on the same group name. A small text box will appear in which you can delete and type in new text.

IMPORTANT: it is essential that all table cells are grey BEFORE you save. If they are white they will not save. To make a cell grey, click outside of the cell (so it is no longer in editing mode)

Planning screen

The rules diagram and graph function in the same way as in previous screens and can be used to support class discussions about planning the investigation. You can use this screen to represent, in the table, each group's suggestions regarding the planning of their investigation (i.e. factors to keep the same, factors to change, and what to measure). For example, here the Lions group want to keep the wind and surface the same, change the temperature, and measure the amount of water left after 5 days using a syringe.The cells in the table are standard editable text boxes. You can enter or edit any information by clicking in the appropriate cell.

• Scroll bars will appear automatically if you enter lots of text into a cell




Conclusions Screen

You can use this screen to summarise the results and conclusions made by each group regarding their investigation. The rules diagram and graph function as in the previous screens and can be used to support class discussions about the groups' conclusions.The cells in the table are normal editable text boxes. You can enter and edit information in the cells by selecting them (tapping).The scroll bar allows you to scroll down the table.



Thank you for using Talk Factory

The Open University is keen to hear your feedback. This will help us to improve future versions of the software.

Please visit the Talk Factory website and enter your comments http://www8.open.ac.uk/creet/main/TalkFactory

For suggestions about how Talk Factory can be incorporated into lessons on investigating evaporation...

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