Middle School Students' Scientific Argumentation Ability

In the era of knowledge explosion in the 21st century,science education is not only to communicate scientific knowledge but to cultivate the core literacy.Reforms in science education have made scientific literacy a central goal for science education.Argumentation has been identified as a key curricular feature that can support students in developing scientific literacy in the context of science.Consistent with this effort are activities and instructional models that are geared towards introducing scientific argumentation and the construction of scientific arguments into the classroom.It has been suggested that students’ participation in argumentation develops communication skills,inquiry skills,critical thinking,the understanding of the nature and practice of science,and scientific literacy.Firstly,based on Toulmin argument pattern and Hu’scientific thinking ability model,this study constructed scientific argumentation ability model.Secondly,this research was to develop a scale which subjected to assess middle and high school students’ scientific argumentation ability and their application.This could not only be a reference for planning the remedial program but also enhance the learning efficiency for all the students.Thirdly,based on constructivist teaching theory,Ponser’s concept change theory and Hu’s Thinking-Based Classroom Teaching principle,this study constructed collaborative argumentation teaching frameworks,and integrated the frameworks into science classroom.The purpose of this study was to improve students’ argumentation qualityThere are three main parts in this these:theoretical research,experimental research,discussion and recommendations.The theoretical research of the thesis is aimed at constructing a scientific argumentation ability model and a teaching framework to promote students’ positive thinking and argumentation.It includes two parts.The first part is to review a range of such theoretical conceptualizations of argumentation and discuss the possible implications for the orchestration of science education.According to the argument pattern of Tolumin and Hu’s scientific thinking ability structure,we defined scientific argumentation ability as a kind of ability thinking critically and refute related to evidence and explanations,constructing and analyzing counterargument,and communicating these scientific arguments.Based on the definition,a three dimensional of Scientific Argumentation Ability Structure(SAAS)Model has been developed.The dimensions are argumentation method(argument,counterargument and rebuttal),argumentation traits(profundity,flexibility,agility,criticism and originality)and argumentation contents(science phenomenon,science peoblem and technical product).According to constructivism,concept change principle and Lin’s and Hu’s thinking-based teaching theory,the second part is to construct the collaborative argumentation-based scientific concept(CASC)teaching framework and collaborative argumentation-based scientific practices(CASP)framework.There are six key points to the CASC framework:Situation creation,Orientation of concept and research,Concept construction,Inquiry process,Interpretation and communication,Reflection on the findings,and Application.There are six key points to the CASP framework:Stimulating interest and motivation,Forming the inquiry question,Designing and Carrying out the inquiry,Interpreting and Communicating the findings,Reflecting on the findings,and Transferring.The empirical study of this thesis includes three parts:the evaluation of scientific argumentation,development research and cultivation research.The first part is the evaluation of scientific argumentation.On the basis of SASC Model,the evaluation standard of Osborne and the content of science literacy in Program for International Student Assessment(PISA),the "Scientific Argumentation Test" and the evaluation standards framework were developed and had high reliability and validityThe second part is the developmental trait of scientific argumentation ability.The age and sex differences of middle and high school students’ scientific argumentation ability were studied.Results based on the data of 1168 students from two middle schools in Shann’xi province were as follows:Firstly,the age differences of scientific argumentation ability are marked.It has increasing tendency.The key periods for the rapid development are from seventh to tenth grade.Secondly,scientific argumentation ability of girls in middle school was higher than boys,but scientific argumentation ability of boys in high school was higher than girls.The thirth part of the thesis is the cultivation of scientific argumentation ability.The scientific argumentation ability of students were cultured from two aspects(scientific concepts and scientific practices)Firstly,the purpose of this study was to explore the impacts of collaborative argumentation-based scientific concept(CASC)teaching on high school students’scientific concepts construction,attitude toward science and argumentation ability.The design of this research was a quasi-experiment.The subjects were the tenth graders of a high school in Xi’an.There were fifty-three students received CASC experiment,while there were fifty-six students received traditional experiment.The empirical examination tools include "Scientific Concept Test","Attitudes toward Science Scale",and"Scientific Argumentation Test".The data of this study indicated that the experiment group significantly outperformed than the comparision group in scientific concept test,regardless of immediate effect and retaining effect.The data showed that after the intervention,the quality of the experimental group students’ arguments and their attitudes toward science were significantly higher than their comparison group,regardless of immediate effect and retaining effect.According to above results,CASC teaching can promote students’ learning interest and learning attitude.It had positive effect to promote students’ science learning.The Peason reliability coefficient(r)between the subject’s score on scientific argumentation and the score on the scientific concept test was.458(p<.01).The students’ scientific argumentation ability and scientific concept understanding were low positively related.The Peason reliability coefficient(r)between the subjects’ score on scientific argumentation and scientific concept test was.751(p<.01).The students’ scientific argumentation ability and attitude toward science scale were moderate positively related.Secondly,the purpose of this study was to explore the impacts of collaborative argumentation-based scientific practices(GASP)and peer assessment(PA)on high school students’ scientific argumentativeness and argumentation ability.The design of this research was a quasi-experiment.The subjects were the eleventh graders of a high school in Xi’an.There were thirty-six students received CASP and PA experiment.There were forty-three students received CASP experiment.There were forty-eight students received traditional scientific inquiry experim.ent.The empirical examination tools include "Science Argumentativeness Scale",and "Scientific Argumentation Test".Results showed that PA group significantly outperformed the C A and comparison group,regardless of scientific argumentativeness scale and argumentation test.The data showed that CA group significantly outperformed comparison group,regardless of scientific argumentativeness scale and argumentation test.According to above results,CASP was more effective in promoting students’ argumentativeness and argumentation ability.It has positive effect to promote students’ science learning.The Peason reliability coefficient(r)between the subject’s score on scientific argumentation and the score on the scientific argumentativeness scale was.438,p<.05.So,the students’scientific argumentation ability and the scientific argumentativeness were low positively related.Peer assessment and collaborative argumentation are more favorable to the improvement of students’ ability of scientific argumentation.The discussion of this thesis focused on the following aspects.Firstly,thinking is the core of scientific argumentation.Secondly,the scientific concept learning is the basis of scientific argumentation.Thirdly,scientific practices and scientific argumentation complement each other.Fourthly,collaboration is an effective way of scientific argumentation.In recommendation,some operable implementation suggestions were put forward on how to cultivate scientific argumentation ability in middle and high school.