It can be emotionally taxing to work with youth in out-of-school time. The less structured environments that come with informal education, although exceptional for allowing youth room for creativity and exploration, also lend well to chaos.

Simple conversational prompts — such as questions, comments and hints — can be used to encourage engagement and productive discussion among young learners. When guiding a learning experience with a specific goal in mind, these prompts become powerful instructional tools called talk moves.