Exploring Differences in Student Reasoning About Belief-Relevant Arguments: A Mixed-Methods Study

• In Event: Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Division C Section 2a Poster Session 3: Cognitive Processes

Abstract

This mixed methods study investigated adolescents’ evaluations of scientific arguments. In the quantitative phase, participants rated belief-consistent arguments more favorably than belief-inconsistent arguments (myside bias effect); however, they also rated strong arguments more favorably than weak arguments, which indicated they did not evaluate the arguments exclusively on whether they were belief-consistent. In the follow-up qualitative phase, interviews with purposefully-sampled students who showed either higher or lower levels of myside bias indicated that both groups applied normative evaluation criteria to the arguments. However, students who showed little or no myside bias applied the same evaluation criteria to arguments independent of whether they were belief-consistent, whereas students who showed high levels of myside bias applied different evaluation criteria to belief-inconsistent arguments.

Authors

• Matthew T. McCrudden, Victoria University of Wellington

• Ashleigh Barnes, Victoria University of Wellington