Student Argumentation

Argumentation

• Define an argument as consisting of three parts
  • Sense Making
  • Articulation
  • Persuasion
• Science classes often stop at Sense Making but all three components are necessary if we are to be able to communicate our ideas to others both inside and outside of science.
• Argumentation often violates classroom norms. This means it is difficult for arguing about ideas to be something you do only occasionally. It takes time for students to become comfortable challenging each other, formulating arguments and to develop an understanding of what constitutes a valid scientific argument.

The Activity

• We worked through an activity in Net Logo involving a program developed by Dr. Berland.
• The activity began with Dr. Berland running the activity on her computer and asking for ideas about how to adjust initial values of grass, rabbits and foxes. Dr. Berland ran several simulations for us to see based on our suggestions and continued to solicit ideas and justifications for those ideas.
  • This part of the activity was a quick introduction to the program and got everyone thinking about what the program can tell us and what is considered evidence (ex. a peak in the rabbit population is followed by a dip in grass showing that rabbits eat the grass)
• The class discussion continued until we found initial values which will sustain both rabbits and foxes.
• We then paired together in groups of two and answered the following questions:
  • Claim: We think the invader eats... Evidence: We think this because we saw...
  • Claim: We think the invader is eaten by... Evidence: We think this because we saw...
• As pairs worked on answering these questions Dr. Berland walked around asking groups what they were thinking or even picking up worksheets to see what people had written.
• After 10-15 minutes Dr. Berland combined pairs into groups of four. She combined pairs so that groups had pairs with different ideas and asked each group to come to a consensus.
  • Pairs were combined in this way to create a need to argue. Often students are asked to argue about ideas when everyone agrees or when students don't have anything invested or any desire to argue.