Some studies related to the nature of scientific knowledge demonstrate that modelling is an inherently argumentative process. This study aims at discussing the relationship between modelling and argumentation by analysing data collected during the modelling-based teaching of ionic bonding and intermolecular interactions. The teaching activities were planned from the transposition of the main modelling stages that constitute the 'Model of Modelling Diagram' so that students could experience each of such stages. All the lessons were video recorded and their transcriptions supported the elaboration of case studies for each group of students. From the analysis of the case studies, we identified argumentative situations when students performed all of the modelling stages. Our data show that the argumentative situations were related to sense making, articulating and persuasion purposes, and were closely related to the generation of explanations in the modelling processes. They also show that representations are important resources for argumentation. Our results are consistent with some of those already reported in the literature regarding the relationship between modelling and argumentation, but are also divergent when they show that argumentation is not only related to the model evaluation phase.

Current proposals for science education recognise the importance of students' involvement in activities aimed at favouring the understanding of science as a human, dynamic and non-linear construct. Modelling-based teaching is one of the alternatives through which to address such issues. Modelling-based teaching activities for ionic bonding were introduced. This topic was chosen because of both the high incidence of students' alternative conceptions and its abstract nature, which justify the need for understanding complex models. The diagram Model of Modelling was used as a theoretical construct during the development of the teaching activities, which were implemented in a Brazilian medium level public school class (16-18 years old students). The data collected were the written material and models produced by the students, the content-knowledge tests, the video-recording of the lessons, and the observations and field notes of both the teacher and the researcher who observed the lessons. The analysis of such data enabled the production of case studies for each of the student groups. In this paper, we analyse one of the case studies, looking for evidence about the way that specific elements of the teaching strategy supported students' learning. It supported our belief in the use of the Model of Modelling diagram as a theoretical construct with which to develop and analyse modelling-based teaching activities.

2-aluno da licenciatura em Química DQ/ICEX/UFMG ResumoAs poucas mudanças no modelo de transmissão/recepção, usado por muitos professores em suas salas de aula, levaram-nos a questionar a influência dos professores que tivemos na nossa formação profissional. Mesmo que os cursos de licenciatura enfatizem teorias mais modernas de ensino e aprendizagem, os professores acabam assumindo a posição de seus antigos professores. Observamos que a formação do professor não se da exclusivamente na licenciatura, mas durante toda a sua vida escolar e após a sua formação, na própria prática docente. As concepções sobre ensino e aprendizagem, sobre o papel da escola, do professor e do aluno, entre outras, podem ser questionadas através da retomada da história de vida de cada um dos professores.Palavras-chave: história de vida, identidade docente, autoformação.. AbstractThe goal of this study is to question the influence of our former teachers in our professional career as teachers.Although the teaching courses at University emphasize the modern theories of theaching and learning, frequently the attitudes of the new teachers in classroom are mirrored in the behavior of their former teachers. The analyses showed that not only the theacher's training occurs at University but during all the school life and after the graduation. The discussion about the histories of lives should be used to question our conceptions of learning and teaching, the role of the school, the teachers and the students, towards changes in education.

Previous research on argumentation in science education has focused on the understanding of relationships between modeling and argumentation (an important topic that only recently has been addressed in few empirical studies), and the methodological difficulties related to the analysis of arguments produced in classrooms. Our study is related to these two aspects. This paper introduces an instrument to analyze arguments produced by students involved in modeling‐based lessons, and discusses the instrument in the light of the current literature. This instrument has been successfully used to analyze arguments in modeling‐based contexts through focus on analysis of plausibility of arguments regarding a given idea or model, and a documentation of the main elements (justification, evidence) and goals of an argument (explanation and persuasion). It has some advantages over other proposals found in the literature, mainly the consideration of the notion of scientific curricular argument (that allows the analysis of arguments in the light of student's knowledge and evidence available in the modeling process), and the distinction between the types of justification (that are important for monitoring the understanding of abstract phenomena). Therefore, it supports the analysis of argumentative situations that occur in regular classes, showing how the quality of students' arguments varies when they participate in distinct activities. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51: 192–218, 2014

Resumo Neste artigo apresentamos o que entendemos como um conhecimento amplo de Natureza da Ciência (NdC) levando em conta o objetivo do letramento científico para a Educação em Ciências. Esta discussão se mostra especialmente relevante porque há uma divergência de posicionamento na área. Podemos considerar como abordagem integrada de NdC para atingir tal finalidade: a análise pelos estudantes das práticas dos cientistas a partir do uso de estudos de caso da ciência, e a participação dos estudantes nas práticas científicas e a reflexão metacognitiva sobre os processos de justificação e validação do conhecimento. As duas situações são importantes porque capacitam a compreensão do trabalho dos cientistas em si, e o desenvolvimento do raciocínio científico ao aplicá-lo e analisá-lo em contexto. Este entendimento requer uma abordagem de NdC que não desvincula os processos científicos de seus produtos do conhecimento epistêmico envolvido na legitimação deles.

This paper discusses the use of non-verbal representations in a modelling-based science teaching context, in which argumentative and explanatory situations occur. More specifically, we analyse how the students and teacher use representations in their discourse in modelling activities, and we discuss the relationships between the functions of these representations and the demands of the explanatory and argumentative situations that exist in that classroom. The data were collected by video recording all the classes in which a teaching sequence about intermolecular interactions was used-a topic which the students had not previously studied. In the activities, the students had to create, express, test, and discuss models in order to understand the difference between intermolecular and interatomic interactions, as well as their influences on the properties of substances. Initially, we selected excerpts of the recorded classes in which a nonverbal representation was used. Then, we used criteria to identify the argumentative and explanatory situations (previously defined), and we created categories for the functions of the representations that were used in order to analyse all the identified situations. The analysis supports conclusions indicating the relevance of the use of non-verbal representations in the construction, use, and defence of explanations. As the defence of explanations was the main context in which argumentative situations occurred in this study, our conclusions also indicate the contribution that representations make towards changing the status of the students' explanations.

Scientific knowledge is a human and social construction, considering that social practices and actions standardized by certain scientific communities, which are recognized and internalized among its members, guide scientific work, that is, the processes of production, communication, evaluation and legitimization of what counts as a valid knowledge claim (Kelly, 2008).

No abstract