A comparison of epistemic features of student and teacher talk during argument-based instructio

Abstract

Science education reform efforts in the United States and Europe acknowledge the need of teaching the content and methods of science, as well as promoting an understanding of the nature of scientific practices and knowledge. Thus, science educators also need to address the epistemic practices of science. A way to present to students the epistemic practices of science is through the teaching of science as argument. During argumentation-based instruction, students use evidence to support their claims and evaluate other individuals’ claims and in this way they engage in ‘epistemic discourse’, which is argued as essential for the development of students’ understanding of the nature of scientific practices and knowledge. This study, through a qualitative case study design, compared the discursive practices of a science teacher and a group of Grade 8 students, observed over 6 argument-based lessons. The classroom talk was analyzed based on a framework of ‘epistemic operations’. The results indicate that the student talk modelled the teacher talk for the epistemic aspects of justification and evaluation of knowledge claims. Implications for specific discursive actions science teachers should focus on, and attempt to promote in their classrooms, as well as the context these discursive actions are presented in, are discussed.

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ORCID for Andri Christodoulou: orcid.org/0000-0002-7021-4210

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