Analysis of preservice teachers’ lesson plans to determine the extent of transfer of argumentation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Argumentation research often addresses the nature of argumentation as a complex set of procedures that can aid learning of complex scientific knowledge and practices. Thus, studies might look at transfer of knowledge and processes to specific science domains or to other types of procedural knowledge, such as teacher implementation in the elementary classroom or attention to argumentation procedures. This study explored the extent of transfer of the procedures and knowledge of argumentation to preservice teachers’ lesson plans. Participants were four African American female preservice graduate students enrolled in an elementary science methods course. The students engaged in argumentation exercises in science from segments of the IDEAS project [Osborne, J., Erduran, S., & Simon, S. (2004). Ideas, evidence and argument in science (IDEAS) project. University of London Press], then participated in a socioscientific crime scene investigation. Students’ capstone unit plans were analysed to explore the extent of transfer of argumentation knowledge and procedures to students’ lessons. Schema theory as an analytic framework shows the nature of psychological and architectural features consistent with students’ abstractions and attention to argumentation. The research has implications for understanding the importance of considering transfer of learning in relation to students’ prior knowledge, especially when it comes to understanding the connections that African American students make to science pedagogy and content.