While classroom interactions are different from those at home
for all children, they were most dissimilar from the home settings
of low-income and minority children (Heath, 1983). At least some
of the time, teachers used a discourse pattern that engages children
in an initiation-reply-evaluation sequence (Mehan, 1979). As
an example, the teacher might ask, “Which of these do you think
will float in water?” The child replies, “The cork.” The teacher
says, “Let’s see if you are right.” Preschool children also were
introduced to such strategies for remembering as rehearsal and
categorization (Cole et al., 1971; Wagner, 1978).