ERIC Number: EJ1137427
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-May
Pages: 32
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0036-8326
EISSN: N/A
Moving beyond Pseudoargumentation: Teachers' Enactments of an Educative Science Curriculum Focused on Argumentation
McNeill, Katherine L.; González-Howard, María; Katsh-Singer, Rebecca; Loper, Suzanna
Science Education, v101 n3 p426-457 May 2017
Argumentation, a key epistemic practice in science, engages students in socially constructing knowledge claims using evidence. However, teachers need support in integrating argumentation into classroom instruction. We examined teachers' enactments of an educative science curriculum and their curricular decision making for argumentation. Ten middle school teachers enacted lessons that focused on both the structure of an argument and argumentation as a dialogic process. For each teacher, we analyzed videotapes of two lessons and follow-up interviews. Across the teachers, we observed a wide range in teachers' enactments. In some instances, teachers' instructional practices aligned with the underlying epistemic goals, while in other cases the structural aspects were oversimplified and discourse norms followed more traditional teacher-led patterns. To support classroom instruction to move beyond pseudoargumentation, we found three main influences on teachers' curricular decision making in classes with higher quality argumentation: (1) teachers' understanding of argumentation as an epistemic practice (rather than surface level features); (2) teachers as critically reflective curriculum users; and (3) teachers problematizing their prior teaching experiences. As a field, we need to think critically about how to design teacher education experiences to discourage the relabeling of teaching with reform-oriented terms, such as argumentation, and instead support instructional transformation.
Descriptors: Science Teachers, Science Curriculum, Persuasive Discourse, Epistemology, Middle School Teachers, Teacher Education, Decision Making, Science Instruction
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: DRL1119584