Low Inference Discussion Observation (LIDO)

The Low Inference Discussion Observation (LIDO) instrument provides a portrait of the quantity and nature of discussion occurring during normal classroom practice. The LIDO is not a measure of discussion quality, but rather of the presence of a variety of teacher and student discourse moves that can reasonably be assumed to index dialogic interaction. Many classroom discussion tools ask observers to use Likert-type scales to rate the degree to which classrooms display various global dimensions such as “engagement” and “authentic response” that require observers to make judgements or inferences. In contrast, the LIDO uses a relatively low-inference method of counting instances of well-known conversational ‘moves’ by students and teachers. For example, teacher moves include those specifically thought to support student transactivity (Berkowitz & Gibbs, 1985). Transactivity involves a focus on reasoning, and entails that the speaker is focusing on the reasoning of others. The teacher moves include using open questions or prompting students to respond to others’ reasoning, and 4 others. Student moves include addressing another student, providing reasoning or evidence to support a claim, and 3 others.

Audio recordings, video recordings, or transcripts can be scored with the LIDO by trained, reliable coders. The LIDO scores include two overall scores (Logit scores) that summarize the teacher talk and student talk count data, as well as scores for individual, specific talk moves, such as a teacher's use of open questions, which is uncommon in classroom interaction measures and highly useful for informing practice.