Enculturating Middle School Students Into the Scientific Community Using Scaffolds to Promote Dialectical Argumentation

• In Event: Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning SIG: Paper Session 1: Questioning Issues in Instruction

Abstract

Science is not a monolithic block of knowledge but rather a dynamic field built through dialectical argumentation. Scientists advance knowledge by providing support to their ideas through evidence and carefully considering and countering others’ arguments. To be informed consumers and producers of scientific knowledge, today’s students must understand the process of argumentation upon which that knowledge is predicated. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for supporting middle school students’ dialectical argumentation during inquiry learning. Included are guidelines for the development of scaffolding to support middle school students’ creation of dialectical arguments.

Authors

• Joel Drake, Utah State University

• Brian R. Belland, Utah State University