Pupils' evaluation and generation of evidence and explanation in argumentation

Abstract

The study refines the definition of argumentation context to include specific goals. Pupils were sensitive to the context of the argumentation situation (e.g.goals, availability of evidence). However, they appeared to have a disposition toward explanation when asked to produce an explanation or evidence-based justification.

Psychological Research and the Epistemological Approach to Argumentation

“…However, in the juror study focusing on narrative explanation and evidence-based argument, Weinstock (in press) found that even with plentiful evidence some people, absolutists, tended consistently toward narrative explanation, and others, particularly evaluativists, tended toward evidence-based arguments. This finding would also explain the performance of eighth graders in a study on their sensitivity to argument contexts (Glassner, Weinstock, & Neuman (2005). As hypothesized, they showed sensitivity to the goals of arguments, ranking explanations as more appropriate when the goal of an argument was to give reasons why and evidence as more appropriate when the goal of the argument was to say how one knows.…”

Sixth Graders’ Co-construction of Explanations of a Disturbance in an Ecosystem: Exploring relationships between grouping, reflective scaffolding, and evidence-based explanations

“…Middle-school students are able to provide explanations of how the world around them works, but may not cite evidence in support of their explanations (Glassner, Weinstock, & Neuman, 2005;Kuhn, et al, 1988;Wu & Hsieh, 2006), even in cases when their explanations are warranted by the data they have examined . When students do cite evidence, there may be problems relating to the quality of this evidence Sandoval & Millwood, 2005).…”

Intended Learning Outcomes and Assessment of Computer-Based Scaffolding

“…Having arrived at initial solutions to such problems, argumentation is also how such solutions are iteratively improved, as well as the evidential support for the solutions (Ford, 2012;Osborne, 2010). K-12 (Belland et al, 2008;Driver, Newton, & Osborne, 2000;Glassner, Weinstock, & Neuman, 2005;McNeill & Pimentel, 2010) and college students (Abi-El-Mona & Abd-El- Khalick, 2011;Cho & Jonassen, 2002;Uskola, Maguregi, & Jiménez-Aleixandre, 2010) often struggle with argumentation, and thus it is important to help them learn this skill. But rather than teaching such didactically, it is important to put them in a situation about which to argue (Aufschnaiter, Erduran, Osborne, & Simon, 2008;Belland et al, 2008;Driver et al, 2000;Jonassen & Kim, 2010) and support them with such tools as scaffolding (Belland et al, 2008;Cho & Jonassen, 2002;Clark & Sampson, 2007;Nussbaum, 2002).…”