Socioscientific Argumentation: Toulmin?s Argument Pattern for Teaching and Learning of Biodiversity and Its Conservation

BERMUDEZ, GONZALO M. A.; GARCÍA, LÍA P.; OTTOGALLI, M.E.

Bologna

Conferencia; 13th Conference of the European Science Education Research Association; 2019

ESERA - European Science Education Research Association

Argumentation and discourse have become central elements of science education. In this framework, biodiversity turns out to be a complex concept, with its conservation being recognised as a socio-scientific issue (SSI) that helps to develop students? scientific and environmental literacy. To explore teacher?s and students? argumentative discourse, we developed a SSI-based teaching and learning sequence about the use of Toulmin?s Argument Pattern (TAP) to make decisions on context-based biodiversity issues. This research, of a sociocultural nature, uses educational discourse analysis with qualitative (conversational analysis) and mixed methods (sociocultural discourse analysis). After having dialogued with our research registers, we report on students? appropriation of scientific argumentative practices, incorporating TAP to everyday reasoning and school science. We have identified several obstacles in teaching and learning of TAP, mainly in relation to terminology (meanings and usage of ?rebuttals? and ?warrants?), students? habituation to stereotyped strategies of school culture (showing apathy towards group discussions, evaluation of knowledge claims and the recognition of the need to look for rebuttals), and students? reliance on their own epistemic abilities (as sufficient per se to evaluate facts and justify claims). Related to this, teacher?s most frequent dialogical support moves were ?theoretical knowledge activation?, ?activity regulation? and ?knowledge legitimation?. Implications arise on the articulation of ecological knowledge and epistemic thinking, and how to support and orchestrate their articulation in the context of SSI-based science teaching.