Thesis advisor: Katherine L. McNeill / Recent science education reform documents and standards, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), call for school science to better reflect authentic scientific endeavors by highlighting the centrality of students engaging in science practices. This dissertation study focuses specifically on argumentation (through the modality of talk), one of the eight science practices emphasized in the NGSS. Although extensively studied, argumentation rarely occurs in classrooms. The absence of this science practice in classrooms is partly due to the student-driven exchanges required by argumentation differing greatly from the interactions that occur during traditional instruction, where students primarily speak to and through the teacher. To transform the type of talk that occurs in science classrooms it is necessary to examine discourse patterns, as well as the roles classroom members take on, in order to identify and develop strategies that can facilitate the shift in discourse norms. This dissertation employs a mixed-methods approach, using social network analysis (SNA), multiple case study methodology, and discourse analysis (DA), to deeply examine video recordings of three middle school classrooms engaged in argumentation through a science seminar (a type of whole class debate). Findings from the SNA highlight the importance of argumentation research integrating a focus on argument structure with dialogic interactions, and point to the benefits of using multiple types of representations to capture engagement in this science practice. Furthermore, examining the manner by which teachers articulated student expectations and goals for the argumentation activity suggest the need to continue supporting teachers in developing and using rich instructional strategies to help students with the dialogic component of argumentation. Additionally, this work sheds light on the importance of how teachers frame the goals for student engagement in this science practice, specifically as being either individual goals or communal goals. Lastly, findings from the DA stress the relationship between discourse patterns and interactional norms, and also suggest the need to expand our perspectives of who can prompt for critique during an argumentation activity.

Thesis advisor: Katherine L. McNeill / Scientific arguments are used to persuade others for explanations that make sense of the natural world. Over time, through the accumulation of evidence, one explanation for a scientific phenomenon tends to take precedence. In science education, arguments make students' thinking and reasoning visible while also supporting the development of their conceptual, procedural, and epistemic knowledge. As such, argumentation has become a goal within recent policy documents, including the Next Generation Science Standards, which, in turn, presents a need for comprehensive, effective, and scalable assessments. This dissertation used assessments that measure students' abilities to critique scientific evidence, which is measured in terms of the form of justification and the support of empirical evidence, when reading and writing scientific arguments. Cognitive interviews were then conducted with a subset of the students to explore the criteria they used to critique scientific evidence. Specifically, the research investigated what characteristics of scientific evidence the students preferred, how they critiqued both forms of justification and empirical evidence, and whether the four constructs represented four separate abilities. Findings suggest that students' prioritized the type of empirical evidence to the form of justification, and most often selected relevant-supporting justifications. When writing scientific arguments, most students constructed a justified claim, but struggled to justify their claims with empirical evidence. In comparison, when reading scientific arguments, students had trouble locating a justification when it was not empirical data. Additionally, it was more difficult for students to critique than identify or locate empirical evidence, and it was more difficult for students to identify than locate empirical evidence. Findings from the cognitive interviews suggest that students with more specific criteria tended to have more knowledge of the construct. Lastly, dimensional analyses suggest that these may not be four distinct constructs, which has important implications for curriculum development and instructional practice. Namely, teachers should attend to the critique of scientific evidence separately when reading and writing scientific arguments. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Nesta pesquisa procuramos investigar se o uso do pluralismo metodológico nas aulas de Física pode contribuir para o aprimoramento da argumentação científica dos alunos. As atividades foram realizadas com alunos da terceira série do ensino médio de uma escola do interior do estado de São Paulo. No desenvolvimento da pesquisa foram utilizadas, em sala de aula, metodologias de ensino variadas: atividades experimentais e de demonstração, atividades com o uso das tecnologias de informação e comunicação e projetos como estratégia de resolução de problema. A coleta de dados foi feita por meio de quatro grupos focais e pelas apresentações de projetos pelos alunos, com a finalidade de investigar as suas argumentações sobre os conceitos físicos estudados por meio das metodologias mencionadas anteriormente. Para a análise da estrutura das argumentações dos alunos demos ênfase aos elementos constitutivos do padrão de Toulmin. Os resultados desta pesquisa mostram indícios do aprimoramento da argumentação científica dos alunos. Isso nos fez concluir que o uso do pluralismo metodológico, juntamente com o processo de interação social, promove o desenvolvimento da argumentação científica e é uma alternativa que colabora para a formação de alunos mais reflexivos e participativos no processo de ensino e aprendizagem de Física. / In this research we investigate if the use of methodological pluralism in Physics classes can contribute to the improvement of the student\'s cientific argumentation. The activities were conducted with students of the third grade of secondary education at a school in the state of São Paulo. In the research\'s development was used, in the classroom, varied teaching methodologies: experimental and demonstration activities, activities using information and communication technology and projects such as problem solving strategy. The data collection was done through four focus groups and by the student\'s presentations of the project, in order to investigate their arguments about physical concepts studied by the methods mentioned above. For the initial structure analysis of the students\' argumentation we gave emphasis to the constituent elements of the standard Toulmin. Our results show evidence of student\'s improvement in scientific argumentation. Using these data we concluded that the use of methodological pluralism, with the process of social interaction, facilitates the development of scientific argument and it is an alternative that contributes to the formation of more reflective and participatory students in the teaching and learning of Physics.

Nesta pesquisa procuramos investigar se o uso do pluralismo metodológico nas aulas de Física pode contribuir para o aprimoramento da argumentação científica dos alunos. As atividades foram realizadas com alunos da terceira série do ensino médio de uma escola do interior do estado de São Paulo. No desenvolvimento da pesquisa foram utilizadas, em sala de aula, metodologias de ensino variadas: atividades experimentais e de demonstração, atividades com o uso das tecnologias de informação e comunicação e projetos como estratégia de resolução de problema. A coleta de dados foi feita por meio de quatro grupos focais e pelas apresentações de projetos pelos alunos, com a finalidade de investigar as suas argumentações sobre os conceitos físicos estudados por meio das metodologias mencionadas anteriormente. Para a análise da estrutura das argumentações dos alunos demos ênfase aos elementos constitutivos do padrão de Toulmin. Os resultados desta pesquisa mostram indícios do aprimoramento da argumentação científica dos alunos. Isso nos fez concluir que o uso do pluralismo metodológico, juntamente com o processo de interação social, promove o desenvolvimento da argumentação científica e é uma alternativa que colabora para a formação de alunos mais reflexivos e participativos no processo de ensino e aprendizagem de Física. / In this research we investigate if the use of methodological pluralism in Physics classes can contribute to the improvement of the student\'s cientific argumentation. The activities were conducted with students of the third grade of secondary education at a school in the state of São Paulo. In the research\'s development was used, in the classroom, varied teaching methodologies: experimental and demonstration activities, activities using information and communication technology and projects such as problem solving strategy. The data collection was done through four focus groups and by the student\'s presentations of the project, in order to investigate their arguments about physical concepts studied by the methods mentioned above. For the initial structure analysis of the students\' argumentation we gave emphasis to the constituent elements of the standard Toulmin. Our results show evidence of student\'s improvement in scientific argumentation. Using these data we concluded that the use of methodological pluralism, with the process of social interaction, facilitates the development of scientific argument and it is an alternative that contributes to the formation of more reflective and participatory students in the teaching and learning of Physics.

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Nosso trabalho teve por objetivo investigar o desenvolvimento da argumentação científica por meio de atividades investigativas com alunos do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, explorando conteúdos físicos a partir de uma situação de calamidade decretada na cidade de Pindamonhangaba em combate ao mosquito Aedes Aegypt. As atividades, inspiradas na proposta apresentada por Carvalho et al. (2013), visam dar oportunidades às crianças de se envolverem em um processo de investigação no qual, analisando o objeto e observando como ele reage, têm a possibilidade de organizar hipóteses argumentativas que justifiquem tais fatos apresentados, como também, oportuniza a interação entre seus pares e a professora, proporcionando o desenvolvimento cognitivo na Zona de Desenvolvimento Proximal como afirma Vigotski (1998). As argumentações dos alunos foram analisadas a partir do modelo argumentativo proposto por Toulmin (2013), o qual identifica e classifica a existência de elementos próprios da argumentação. Os resultados mostraram a positividade do planejamento de atividades investigativas nas séries iniciais do Ensino Fundamental Básico para o desenvolvimento da argumentação científica dos alunos, os quais utilizarão de suas experiências anteriores para compreender conteúdos mais complexos nos anos seguintes e tomar atitudes socialmente responsáveis dentro da comunidade onde estão inseridos. / Our study aimed to investigate the development of scientific arguments through investigative activities with students of the 5th grade of elementary school, exploring physical content from a disaster situation decreed in the city of Pindamonhangaba in the combat of Aedes Aegypti mosquito. The activities inspired by the proposal by Carvalho et al. (2013), aim to provide opportunities for children to engage in a research process in which, analyzing the object and observing how it reacts, have the possibility to organize argumentative assumptions that justify such facts presented, but also gives the opportunity of interaction between their pairs and their teacher providing cognitive development in the Zone of Proximal Development as stated by Vygotsky (1998). The arguments of the students were analyzed from the argumentative model proposed by Toulmin (2013), which identifies and ranks the existence of specific elements of the argument). The results showed the positivity of the planning of investigative activities in the early grades of elementary school to the development of scientific reasoning of the students, who use their past experiences to understand more complex content in the following years and make socially responsible attitudes within the community where they are inserted.

Nosso trabalho teve por objetivo investigar o desenvolvimento da argumentação científica por meio de atividades investigativas com alunos do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, explorando conteúdos físicos a partir de uma situação de calamidade decretada na cidade de Pindamonhangaba em combate ao mosquito Aedes Aegypt. As atividades, inspiradas na proposta apresentada por Carvalho et al. (2013), visam dar oportunidades às crianças de se envolverem em um processo de investigação no qual, analisando o objeto e observando como ele reage, têm a possibilidade de organizar hipóteses argumentativas que justifiquem tais fatos apresentados, como também, oportuniza a interação entre seus pares e a professora, proporcionando o desenvolvimento cognitivo na Zona de Desenvolvimento Proximal como afirma Vigotski (1998). As argumentações dos alunos foram analisadas a partir do modelo argumentativo proposto por Toulmin (2013), o qual identifica e classifica a existência de elementos próprios da argumentação. Os resultados mostraram a positividade do planejamento de atividades investigativas nas séries iniciais do Ensino Fundamental Básico para o desenvolvimento da argumentação científica dos alunos, os quais utilizarão de suas experiências anteriores para compreender conteúdos mais complexos nos anos seguintes e tomar atitudes socialmente responsáveis dentro da comunidade onde estão inseridos. / Our study aimed to investigate the development of scientific arguments through investigative activities with students of the 5th grade of elementary school, exploring physical content from a disaster situation decreed in the city of Pindamonhangaba in the combat of Aedes Aegypti mosquito. The activities inspired by the proposal by Carvalho et al. (2013), aim to provide opportunities for children to engage in a research process in which, analyzing the object and observing how it reacts, have the possibility to organize argumentative assumptions that justify such facts presented, but also gives the opportunity of interaction between their pairs and their teacher providing cognitive development in the Zone of Proximal Development as stated by Vygotsky (1998). The arguments of the students were analyzed from the argumentative model proposed by Toulmin (2013), which identifies and ranks the existence of specific elements of the argument). The results showed the positivity of the planning of investigative activities in the early grades of elementary school to the development of scientific reasoning of the students, who use their past experiences to understand more complex content in the following years and make socially responsible attitudes within the community where they are inserted.

Orientador: Jackson Gois da Silva / Resumo: A aprendizagem de alunos de licenciatura é de fundamental importância no processo formativo desses futuros profissionais e o estágio curricular supervisionado é parte central nessa aprendizagem. O estágio curricular supervisionado foi introduzido nas disciplinas das licenciaturas a fim de propiciar aos licenciandos a vivência do cotidiano escolar, com a intenção de prepará-los melhor para seu futuro profissional. Durante as atividades de estágio da Licenciatura em Química, os licenciandos utilizam conceitos químicos na elaboração e aplicação de seus projetos de estágio e o fazem juntamente com os saberes docentes. Assim, o estágio se constitui na elaboração de concepções acerca da docência, bem como na reelaboração do conhecimento químico direcionado para a prática docente, o que possibilita uma formação profissional mais concreta. Uma importante habilidade relacionada às áreas científicas é a argumentação científica, pois é através dela que o conhecimento científico é validado, seja em sala de aula e em todas as instâncias da sociedade. Em nosso trabalho, buscamos saber se as reflexões proporcionadas pelas atividades do estágio da Licenciatura em Química de uma universidade pública paulista influenciam na habilidade de argumentação científica dos alunos, através da aplicação de questionário e gravações em vídeos das reuniões de estágio, análise dos projetos e de relatórios dos licenciandos. A pesquisa é de caráter qualitativo, assim, utilizamos a análise textual discursiva p... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The learning of undergraduate students is of fundamental importance in the training process of these future professionals and the supervised curricular internship is a central part of this learning. The supervised internship was introduced in the disciplines of undergraduate courses in order to provide graduates with the experience of school daily, with the intention of preparing them better for their professional future. During the internship activities of the undergraduate degree in chemistry, undergraduates use chemical concepts in the elaboration and application of their internship projects, and do so together with the teaching knowledge. Thus, the internship is constituted in the elaboration of conceptions about teaching, as well as in the re-elaboration of the chemical knowledge directed to the teaching practice, what allows a more concrete professional formation. An important skill related to scientific areas is scientific argumentation, because it is through it that scientific knowledge is validated, whether in the classroom and in all instances of society. In our work, we seek to find out if the reflections provided by the activities of the degree in chemistry at a public university in São Paulo influence the ability of students to make scientific arguments, through the application of questionnaires and video recordings of internship meetings, project analysis and undergraduate reports. The research is of a qualitative character, therefore, we use discursive textual ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

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