Using CMC to Develop Argumentation Skills in Childre with a ‘Literacy Deficit’

Abstract

Constructive argumentation is a process of confronting cognitions — it is a process of deliberating between participants’ diverse positions and reasons for believing in them (see Andriessen, Baker & Suthers, this volume). This chapter is concerned with how we create learning communities that enable children to express and confront their cognitions. In particular, how we create a climate in which children are encouraged to reason about the evidential support for, and consequences of their beliefs. The chapter will focus on a project aimed at facilitating a learning culture in which children can develop argumentation skills necessary to demonstrate “knowledge transformation” as opposed to “knowledge telling” (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987). The work described here forms part of a project in progress at the Chapeltown and Harehills Assisted Learning Computer School (CHALCS) with the wider aim of improving children’s literacy.