Material inquiry and transformation as prerequisite processes of scientific argumentation: Toward a social‐material theory of argumentation

Abstract

AbstractArgumentation as a scientific practice has largely been examined along an epistemic and/or dialogic perspective in science education research. Both perspectives have sidelined the use of real material objects that are indispensable for scientists to construct arguments about the natural world. To address this gap, this article investigates how material objects are used to coordinate with our speech and actions to shape argumentation in secondary physical science. Drawing on actor‐network theory, the article reframes argumentation as a chain of human‐material interactions incorporating the role of physical things to construct evidence. Based on a collective case study comprising classroom video data generated from two grade nine science classrooms, the article examines how teachers and students used material objects to engage in argumentation related to qualitative analysis in chemistry and Newton's laws of motions in physics. The analysis reveals two major themes: (a)material inquiryas the framing of questions and statements about the behavior or property of the material world and (b)material transformationas the orchestration of material objects, embodied actions, and words to actively create evidence. This article concludes that both material inquiry and material transformation are essential prerequisites for scientific argumentation to take place, not only in research laboratories, but also in science classrooms. The contribution to the development of a future socio‐material theory of scientific argumentation, which takes material agency and multimodal discourse into account, are also discussed.