Understanding middle school teachers' processing of student-generated resources in science classrooms

Teachers constantly encounter various responses generated by students in the classroom. These responses, which can be regarded as instructional "resources" that have potential value for facilitating students' deep learning, are not fully used in teachers' everyday practice. By proposing the notion of "student-generated resources" (SGRs) and adopting a "resources use" rather than sociolinguistic perspective, this study investigates what SGRs are there in the classroom and how teachers process them. Based on classroom observations, we identify five types of SGRs. Following the "perceive-interpret-mobilize" processing flow, teachers demonstrate three processing results (utilize, feedback, and abandon). Further, we identify three approaches of teachers' utilization of SGRs and five approaches of their feedback to SGRs. Our findings suggest that teachers tend to give feedback to SGRs rather than utilize them as resources. This study broadens theoretical landscape about classroom resources and helps teachers take full advantage of SGRs in empowering students' learning.