Argumentation and Equity in Inquiry-Based Science Instruction: Reasoning Patterns of Teachers and Students

• In Event: Multicultural/Multiethnic Education: Critical Perspectives

Abstract

This study operates from the perspective that insights into ways of facilitating more equitable science instruction can be gained by focusing on the similarities and differences between the reasoning patterns modeled and expected by science teachers and those used by their students. It utilizes a combination of analytic frameworks to characterize the structure and content of the reasoning patterns demonstrated by teachers and students during inquiry-based activities. By seeking insights into specific ways of facilitating greater levels of science literacy in diverse student populations, it builds on existing bodies of work indicating that students' linguistic and cultural experiences are at times continuous with those of science disciplines and can be used as intellectual resources to be capitalized on during instruction.

Author

• Tobias Irish, Willamette University