ABSTRACT

Background

Argumentation, that is the coordination of evidence and reasons to support claims, is an important skill for democratic society, developing subject-specific literacies, and can be embedded in multiple school subjects. While argumentation has been extensively researched in science education, interdisciplinary argumentation is less explored, particularly between subjects where collaboration is not the norm, such as science and religious education (RE). Yet everyday issues often involve considering information from multiple sources, such as scientific information or ethical, moral, or religious perspectives.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to better understand students’ abilities in argumentation within and across the school subjects of science and RE to inform research and practice of interdisciplinary argumentation.

Sample

The participants of this study were 457 students, aged between 11 and 14 years, from 10 secondary schools in England. Following data cleaning, 394 student responses were analysed.

Design and Methods

Students completed simultaneous written assessments for argumentation in three tasks which are situated within three different subject contexts: (1) science (2) RE, and (3) an interdisciplinary context which involved argumentation from science and RE.

Results

In each of the three contexts, high proportions of students achieve all available marks for identifying claims and evidence. These proportions drop when constructing the link between claim and evidence (warrant) and constructing an evaluative argument. Higher performances were generally noted in the context of science and that students experience particular challenges in argumentation in the RE scenario.

Conclusions

This study contributes to our understanding of the challenges and successes of students’ argumentation within and across the subjects of science and RE. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.

中文翻译：

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学生在科学、宗教教育和跨学科科学-宗教教育场景中的论证

摘要

背景

论证，即支持主张的证据和理由的协调，是民主社会、发展学科特定素养的一项重要技能，可以嵌入到多个学校学科中。虽然论证已在科学教育中得到广泛研究，但跨学科论证的探索较少，尤其是在合作不是常态的学科之间，例如科学和宗教教育 (RE)。然而，日常问题通常涉及考虑来自多个来源的信息，例如科学信息或伦理、道德或宗教观点。

目的

本研究的目的是更好地了解学生在科学和 RE 学校学科内部和之间的论证能力，为跨学科论证的研究和实践提供信息。

样本

这项研究的参与者是来自英国 10 所中学的 457 名学生，年龄在 11 至 14 岁之间。数据清理后，分析了 394 份学生的回答。

设计与方法

学生同时完成了三个任务的论证书面评估，这些任务位于三个不同的学科背景中：(1) 科学 (2) RE，以及 (3) 涉及科学和 RE 论证的跨学科背景。

结果

在这三种情况中的每一种情况下，都有很高比例的学生获得了用于识别主张和证据的所有可用分数。在构建索赔和证据（保证）之间的联系以及构建评价性论证时，这些比例会下降。在科学背景下通常会注意到更高的表现，并且学生在 RE 场景中的论证中遇到特殊挑战。

结论

这项研究有助于我们理解学生在科学和 RE 学科内部和之间进行论证的挑战和成功。讨论了对研究和实践的影响。