The importance of argumentation that contributes to scientific knowledge formation has been emphasized in science education and learning. However, students do not seem to make scientific argumentation collaboratively in science classroom. Most of the ...
The importance of argumentation that contributes to scientific knowledge formation has been emphasized in science education and learning. However, students do not seem to make scientific argumentation collaboratively in science classroom. Most of the small group talks are revolved around some students who are high-achievers and their opinion is dominantly accepted without deep reasoning. Therefore, we explored the nature of discourse and the context in which the collaborative small-group argumentation could be developed. Based on the results of this qualitative research, the program for fostering collaborative argumentation in small groups was developed and applied to science classes.
In the first year (2010), we conducted literature analysis and opened seminars regularly which covered the literature about argumentation activities, small group interaction, and cultural aspect of learning as “participation”. Based on the literature research, we firstly developed the program for collaborative small-group argumentation, then, implemented it to 32 middle school students. From the analysis of small-group discourse, the student's argumentations were categorized into two patterns: dialogic argumentation and authoritative argumentation. In dialogic argumentation, students developed internal conflict context based on the difference between their individual arguments, and they negotiated to resolve the difference. In this process, students provided conceptual, social and cognitive support with each other, and as a result, the quality of collective argument was enhanced. This study provided some information about how task-specific features and students’ role could contribute to the development of argumentation.
In the second year of the research (2011), grounded on the results of literature analysis, the basic principles and the framework for the program were developed. Also, we selected specific topics and constructed argumentation tasks for students. On the basis of the first year research results and previous other research data, multidimensional teaching strategies were examined to support students’ small-group argumentation and as a result, a structure of small group argumentation program covering 'plant nutrition' was developed, which was targeting middle school students. We learned what task-specific features can facilitate the argumentative activities and how students’ participation was activated, throughout the practical application of the program in a middle school classroom. Moreover, another program covering 'organization and diversity of living organisms' was developed in which teaching strategies for supporting social interaction and conceptual understanding as well as validating student’s own idea were improved based on the findings from previous researches. Both researchers and a teacher participated in the analysis of the students' argumentative ability and patterns of social interaction, and found how the multi-dimensional support contributed to the development of small-group argumentation. In this two-year study, we prepared the multi-dimensional strategies for practice of small-group argumentation, and found that it is practicable to implement the program for collaborative argumentation in science class.