Talking and Writing Arguments in an Eighth-Grade Science Classroom: Darwin's Finches as Evidence for Evolution

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: Writing and Literacies in STEM

Abstract

Teaching and learning the complex moves needed to construct relationships between claims and data is understudied in science education. Writing and talk are not only integral to social/communicative practices in science teaching and learning but are also inherently valuable in navigating between claims and empirical evidence. Participants included a highly regarded teacher and 26 “advanced” eighth-grade students in a suburban middle school. Using classroom talk and student writing as data sources, a move analysis revealed the case study students’ moves in their lab reports were related to understanding evolution as a process, constructing evidence, interpreting data for findings and forwarding arguments about their interpretation and analysis. Epistemic levels can be used to examine challenges students encounter in developing scientific arguments.

Authors

• George E. Newell, The Ohio State University

• Katherine Michelle St Clair Misar