Shirley Simon

The Role of Argumentation in Developing Scientific Literacy

Recent approaches in educational research frame science learning in terms of the appropriation of discourse practices where argumentation plays a central role in the development of explanations and theories. The main objectives of the research reported in this paper were to (1) investigate the pedagogical strategies necessary to promote argumentation skills in students; (2) determine the extent to which the implementation of such strategies enhances teachers’ pedagogical practices with argumentation; and (3) examine the extent to which lessons which follow these pedagogical strategies lead to enhanced quality in students’ argumentation. Data collected from a set of lessons on scientific and socioscientific topics from twelve, year 8 schools in London are reported and discussed. These lessons were analysed using a framework based on Toulmin’s Argument Pattern. There were statistically significant differences in the quality of arguments generated in the classrooms of the project teachers who had participated in the training workshops. The strategies that we have adopted for working with teachers, and the frameworks to support argumentation will be discussed.

Teacher Learning and Professional Development in Science Education

The Institute of Education in London hosts one of the nine Science Learning Centres set up in England in 2004 to promote the professional development of science teachers in each region of the country. The Centres are part of a government initiative to enhance science teaching and learning and offer Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses that are perceived to be most needed by teachers. A CPD course could focus on technical aspects of teaching science, such as practical procedures, or more fundamental pedagogical practices, such as formative assessment. Courses may be just 1 day, or 2–3 days over a period of time with teachers taking ideas and activities to try out in their schools so that they can reflect and subsequently feed back ideas to colleagues on the course. A model of professional development that entails teachers coming out of school to attend short courses may be limited in its impact on pedagogy, even though such a model is financially and organisationally the most viable.

Decision making and use of evidence in a socio-scientific problem on air quality

The study reported here arises from the overlapping interests of the two authors as we came together as supervisor and student for a master’s dissertation. As an experienced researcher, Shirley Simon had been studying argumentation in school science over many years, in particular focusing on the ways in which teachers develop their pedagogical approach to argument and the challenges they experience when trying to change their practice (Simon, Erduran, & Osborne, 2006; Simon & Maloney, 2007). One feature of Simon’s work with teachers was to study how they organised and managed small group discussion, role play, and class debates, and how students engaged with scientific evidence or socio-scientific issues (SSI) to construct arguments in different contexts (Osborne, Erduran, & Simon, 2004a). The research, conducted in schools in the United Kingdom, led to the development of activities and guidance for teachers in argumentation (Osborne, Erduran, & Simon, 2004b), which coincided with changes in the science component of the English national curriculum for 14–16 year olds, and the emergence of a course aimed to enhance scientific literacy (SL) called Twenty First Century Science (OCR, 2005). The new national curriculum places more emphasis on the nature of science (NOS), and Twenty First Century Science includes activities for students to debate and construct arguments on issues related to science topics, with a focus on relevance to everyday life; it also includes pedagogical guidance for teachers in how to organise and manage such activities.

Argumentation and the Learning of Science

Within the last years a consensus about the importance of argumentation in school science has developed. Students should not only be able to follow and judge scientific debates in public, it is also assumed that argumentation contributes directly to science learning. However, detailed studies on the interrelationship between argumentation and the development of science knowledge are rare in research on students’ learning. In the study reported in this paper, Junior High School students’ processes of argumentation and their cognitive development occurring in science lessons based on argument were investigated. Using video and audio documents of small group and classroom discussions, students’ performance of argumentation was analysed using a schema based on the work of Toulmin (1958). In parallel, students’ development and usage of scientific knowledge was investigated drawing on a schema for determining the content and area of abstraction of students’ meaning making. Results show that when engaging in argumentation students draw on their prior experiences and knowledge. Activities based on argumentation enabled students to consolidate and elaborate their existing knowledge but did mainly not result in new (conceptual) understanding. However, students were able to develop high level arguments with relatively little knowledge and vice verca.

Responses of teachers to a course of intensive training

In this chapter, the spotlight is on that part of our model that includes the person within their immediate professional community responding to an external intervention, and has links mainly with the external professional and policy. The policy in this case emanates from the National Numeracy Strategy in the form of a Five-day course covering aspects of mathematics content and pedagogy, delivered by professionals external to the schools. Twelve teachers in four schools were interviewed and observed to explore their subject knowledge, orientations and beliefs and classroom practice. Eight of these teachers experienced the Five-day course in 2000/01, with three more attending at a later date. This chapter discusses how the first eight teachers responded to this professional development, both initially and over the longer term; how they took influences from the course into their own classrooms; how they prepared to feed back their ideas to their colleagues in school and how this feedback was received. The degree to which this in-service training provided the constituents of effective professional development is also critically examined.

Metalogue: Engaging Students in Scientific and Socio-scientific Argumentation

Evagorou: In this chapter, Shirley and Ruth raise several interesting issues related to (socio-scientific issues) SSI, argumentation, and decision-making. A major question in this study was the quality of students’ arguments, and if there is a link between the nature of the evidence (e.g., scientific, environmental, financial) and the quality of the arguments. The results are not conclusive as to this point, and the authors suggest that more evidence is necessary.

Initiatives to Prepare New Science Teachers for Promoting Student Engagement

In this chapter we explore contemporary thinking on student engagement in science and how this might be enhanced through the development of initiatives in the training of new science teachers. Drawing on the wealth of literature on students’ attitudes to science, relevance, motivation and identity, the main issues underpinning student engagement and participation in science are discussed. These issues have informed recent initiatives in an initial teacher education programme called the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) that aim to help student teachers become aware of student engagement as an important outcome of science teaching. Three initiatives are discussed: learning science outside the classroom, learning science with technology, and supporting teacher creativity through action research. The first of these involves student teachers planning and teaching groups of school students at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (London) and the London Science Museum. The Kew experience also involves the second initiative, use of a smartphone application called GeoSciTeach, to support spatial thinking in science. Observations of school students working in these settings reveal a high level of engagement. The action research initiative involves the student teachers preparing engaging resources on their teaching practice, and reflecting on their value for a written assignment. A small survey of the student teachers shows the key resources that they found to be most engaging for school students include games, practical activities, technology-based learning experiences and role-plays. Evidence suggests that these initiatives help student teachers to value student engagement in science.

Advancing teacher knowledge of effective argumentation pedagogy

This paper provides a discussion of the methodological approach to a research project that builds on previous studies of effective argumentation pedagogy undertaken by one of the authors. In this study, teachers from six schools in a city location are taking part in a one-year project to use new web-based professional development materials to advance their practice in using group discussion and argumentation in science. The teachers attend workshops on planning and organising effective group-work, introducing argument and sustaining small group discussion, and curriculum planning to promote argumentation activity. Between sessions the teachers develop each aspect of pedagogy in their schools. Data are collected from each of the participating schools using teacher survey and interviews to ascertain perspectives on argumentation practice in science, pedagogical strategies used, changes in practice and collaborative working with colleagues in school. The paper focuses on the issues of research design in determining the impact of the workshops.

Metalogue: Design and Enactment of SSI Curriculum: Critical Theory, Difficult Content, and Didactic Transposition

Sadler: I am very interested in the author’s application of critical theory to the teaching and learning of SSI. My work tends not to be guided by this perspective; not because I do not see value in critical theory and pedagogy but rather because a critical perspective raises certain issues with which I struggle to deal. I hope the authors can discuss ways that they deal with or conceptualize some of these issues.

The Dynamics of Teacher Decision-Making: Case Studies of Teachers Responding to the National Numeracy Strategy

Drawing on the data from the study outlined in Chapter 5, Teachers’ Knowledge, Conceptions and Practices, this chapter includes case studies of teachers in order to examine more closely the ‘space’ between the pupil, the person and the policy within the classroom, hence the core of teachers’ classroom practice. Teachers’ choice of tasks and modes of interaction result from decision-making both prior to the lesson and moment-to-moment within the classroom, these choices and actions reflecting teachers’ underlying beliefs and perceptions about pupils and their learning. The chapter draws on interview and classroom observation data from the study to provide evidence of teachers’ views about teaching and learning and how these relate to decisions made in the classroom in terms of children’s activities and classroom discourse. Informed by previous work on teachers’ belief systems, in particular their implicit theories of learning, case studies of two teachers’ enactment of the National Numeracy Strategy Framework within the classroom focus on changes in practice over time. The findings show that the teachers have different initial beliefs about teaching mathematics and respond to the messages of the same in-service training in different ways. Though some changes are apparent in teachers’ discourse and use of resources, the core of practice, influenced by underpinning theories of learning, does not change for either teacher. More fundamental changes would need to be stimulated by training that focuses more on how children learn in classrooms, and how teachers’ implicit theories of learning can be addressed and enhanced.