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An investigation into secondary teachers’ views of argumentation in science and religious education

An investigation into secondary teachers’ views of argumentation in science and religious education
An investigation into secondary teachers’ views of argumentation in science and religious education

Citizens often face dilemmas where they need to make decisions that impact our lives and are related to science and religion. For example, genetic cloning, nuclear energy and climate change can potentially appeal to moral and religious values as well as scientific knowledge. The ability to coordinate knowledge and values in reaching justified conclusions has thus become increasingly important in contemporary democratic societies. The process of justification of knowledge claims with evidence and reasons is often referred to as ‘argumentation’. Curricula of school subjects such as science and religious education (RE) include references to argumentation, and teachers are expected to teach to these standards. Yet, there is often limited opportunity for teachers of conventionally disparate subjects to express their understanding of how argumentation is broadly conceptualised in their own subject and in relation to other school subjects. This paper reports a study investigating how science and RE teachers view the nature of argumentation. The data were drawn from 16 science and 17 RE teachers’ survey responses. The findings illustrate how teachers describe both the distinguishing features (e.g. forms of evidence acceptable for substantiating a claim) and similarities (e.g. structures and processes of argument construction) of argumentation in science and RE.

Argumentation, science and religion, teacher beliefs
190-204
Guilfoyle, Liam
3dd9f81d-3c3b-4ae3-83c9-9abe5274df8a
Erduran, Sibel
ff2d1099-2722-494a-b921-9994dca75c6f
Park, Wonyong
eae3796e-fc99-43ba-98be-53ea5bdb14fc
Guilfoyle, Liam
3dd9f81d-3c3b-4ae3-83c9-9abe5274df8a
Erduran, Sibel
ff2d1099-2722-494a-b921-9994dca75c6f
Park, Wonyong
eae3796e-fc99-43ba-98be-53ea5bdb14fc

Guilfoyle, Liam, Erduran, Sibel and Park, Wonyong (2021) An investigation into secondary teachers’ views of argumentation in science and religious education. Journal of Beliefs & Values, 42 (2), 190-204. (doi:10.1080/13617672.2020.1805925).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Citizens often face dilemmas where they need to make decisions that impact our lives and are related to science and religion. For example, genetic cloning, nuclear energy and climate change can potentially appeal to moral and religious values as well as scientific knowledge. The ability to coordinate knowledge and values in reaching justified conclusions has thus become increasingly important in contemporary democratic societies. The process of justification of knowledge claims with evidence and reasons is often referred to as ‘argumentation’. Curricula of school subjects such as science and religious education (RE) include references to argumentation, and teachers are expected to teach to these standards. Yet, there is often limited opportunity for teachers of conventionally disparate subjects to express their understanding of how argumentation is broadly conceptualised in their own subject and in relation to other school subjects. This paper reports a study investigating how science and RE teachers view the nature of argumentation. The data were drawn from 16 science and 17 RE teachers’ survey responses. The findings illustrate how teachers describe both the distinguishing features (e.g. forms of evidence acceptable for substantiating a claim) and similarities (e.g. structures and processes of argument construction) of argumentation in science and RE.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 3 August 2020
Published date: 3 April 2021
Additional Information: Funding Information: This work was supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation under Grant [TWCF0238]. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords: Argumentation, science and religion, teacher beliefs

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 452800
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/452800
PURE UUID: a1621ee6-a7bb-41e3-9068-f431300e0b90
ORCID for Wonyong Park: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8911-5968

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 20 Dec 2021 17:52
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:09

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Contributors

Author: Liam Guilfoyle
Author: Sibel Erduran
Author: Wonyong Park ORCID iD

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