Science Education International Vol. 24, 2, 2013, 195-211 Constructing arguments: Investigating pre-service science teachers’ argumentation skills in a socio-scientific context Brooke Robertshaw, Todd Campbell ABSTRACT: As western society becomes increasingly reliant on scientific information to make decisions, citizens must be equipped to understand how scientific arguments are constructed. In order to do this, pre-service teachers must be prepared to foster students’ abilities and understandings of scientific argumentation in the classroom. This study investigated how instruction in the Toulmin Argumentation Protocol (TAP) impacted pre-service science teachers' ability to write sound and logical scientific arguments. The study occurred in the context of a pre-service methods class on the socio-scientific realm of secondary science education at a university in the USA. Through the use of quantitative methods, investigation findings indicate that there was a positive impact on science teachers’ ability to construct sound scientific arguments through instruction in the TAP within the one semester course where this research took place. KEY WORDS: Argumentation, Socio-Scientific Issues, Pre-Service Science Teachers As western society evolves, it has become more and more reliant on scientific concepts to judge how to move forward. Examples of this include looking to science to explain and give guidance about how humans should interact with the earth's ecosystem or understanding what stem cells do and the most ethical uses of these cells. These are just a few examples of hundreds, possibly thousands, of ways that our current western society looks toward scientific work to guide us into the future. In order to be the best possible consumers of scientific information for making personal, political and ethical decisions, we need to understand how this scientific knowledge came to be or the epistemic origins of this knowledge and the foundations upon which it is being presented. In the U.S., A Conceptual Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2011) supports this, including science practices as a central strand of science learning. Linked to the practices of science learning, the NRC conceptual framework emphasizes being able to understand and create arguments about phenomena that use scientific logic. In order to produce citizens that can process and evaluate science information, students must understand how evidence is used in coordination with theory, how to assess the
Science Education International Vol. 24, 2, 2013, 195-211 Constructing arguments: Investigating pre-service science teachers’ argumentation skills in a socio-scientific context Brooke Robertshaw, Todd Campbell ABSTRACT: As western society becomes increasingly reliant on scientific information to make decisions, citizens must be equipped to understand how scientific arguments are constructed. In order to do this, pre-service teachers must be prepared to foster students’ abilities and understandings of scientific argumentation in the classroom. This study investigated how instruction in the Toulmin Argumentation Protocol (TAP) impacted pre-service science teachers' ability to write sound and logical scientific arguments. The study occurred in the context of a pre-service methods class on the socio-scientific realm of secondary science education at a university in the USA. Through the use of quantitative methods, investigation findings indicate that there was a positive impact on science teachers’ ability to construct sound scientific arguments through instruction in the TAP within the one semester course where this research took place. KEY WORDS: Argumentation, Socio-Scientific Issues, Pre-Service Science Teachers As western society evolves, it has become more and more reliant on scientific concepts to judge how to move forward. Examples of this include looking to science to explain and give guidance about how humans should interact with the earth's ecosystem or understanding what stem cells do and the most ethical uses of these cells. These are just a few examples of hundreds, possibly thousands, of ways that our current western society looks toward scientific work to guide us into the future. In order to be the best possible consumers of scientific information for making personal, political and ethical decisions, we need to understand how this scientific knowledge came to be or the epistemic origins of this knowledge and the foundations upon which it is being presented. In the U.S., A Conceptual Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2011) supports this, including science practices as a central strand of science learning. Linked to the practices of science learning, the NRC conceptual framework emphasizes being able to understand and create arguments about phenomena that use scientific logic. In order to produce citizens that can process and evaluate science information, students must understand how evidence is used in coordination with theory, how to assess the
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