Argumentation and interdisciplinarity: reflections from the Oxford Argumentation in Religion and Science Project

Sibel Erduran,Jessica Chan,Nigel Fancourt,Wonyong Park,Liam Guilfoyle

doi:10.1186/s43031-019-0006-9

Sibel Erduran, Jessica Chan + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-019-0006-9

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Abstract

Argumentation has emerged as a key area of research and development in science education in recent years. Simply defined, argumentation is about the justification of knowledge claims with evidence and reasons. Although there is now a vast amount of work in argumentation, much research remains to be pursued. Given the interdisciplinary nature of argumentation, the dialogue between science education and other relevant domains can potentially produce constructive research agendas that could profit argumentation research and lead to practical applications. Following an overview of the relevant interdisciplinary investigations that can be pursued in science education, the paper subsequently focuses on the interphase of science and religion. Although science education research has witnessed considerable debate about particular issues related to science and religion such as the teaching and learning of evolution and creationism, the role of argumentation remains an uncharted territory. Hence, the paper focuses on how argumentation may be explored in science and religious education in comparison. Some preliminary observations from the Oxford Argumentation in Religion and Science (OARS) Project are reported including a comparative analysis of curricula and teachers’ views. Implications for interdisciplinarity in the context of argumentation in science education are discussed.

Highlights

Argumentation has emerged as a key area of research and development in science education in recent years
We found the selected religious education syllabi to be almost brimming with language that resonates with the project’s definition of argumentation
The paper demonstrates that science education research has given extensive focus to argumentation over the past two decades (e.g. Erduran et al, 2015)

Summary

Introduction

Argumentation has emerged as a key area of research and development in science education in recent years. A review of some key journals in science education conducted by Lin, Lin, and Tsai (2014) demonstrated that the top 10 highly cited papers published in high impact science education research journals between 1998 and 2002 included papers on argumentation. The review indicated that argumentation, including informal reasoning, has been studied mostly in the context of various socio-scientific issues, suggesting that these three research topics were widely considered to be closely interrelated by science educators. Various aspects of science education have been addressed in argumentation studies including the role of subject knowledge (Aydeniz, 2019), the use of technology (Henderson & Osborne, 2019), drama (Archila, 2017) and professional development of science teachers (Ozdem, Cakiroglu, Ertepinar, & Erduran, 2017)

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