ABSTRACT
As an attempt to contribute to implementing scientific argumentation in
classrooms, this study aimed to design an argumentation activity in which
students were supported in engaging in the epistemic practices of scientific
community. We reinterpreted prediction-observation-explanation strategy based
on a resources perspective to acknowledge the role of students’ prior knowledge
in their construction of arguments and to consider students as active
participants with epistemic authority. This argumentation activity was intended
to encourage students to construct scientific concepts with valid justifications
based on their conceptual resources. Specifically, the activity consisted of three
stages: (a) prediction with justification: predicting the result of the task and
justifying the prediction; (b) observation: conducting the task to gather first-hand data: and (c) explanation with justification: reconstructing a valid
argument with justification. We implemented this activity in classrooms to
investigate its practical outcomes with students. The students were able to
construct a rigorous argument on their own, evaluating and revising their
arguments based on the resources they already possessed and the data they
gathered in the observation stage. The results of this research shed light on how
to develop scientific argumentation activities that support students as epistemic
agents having the ability to construct scientifically rigorous arguments.
Key Words: scientific argumentation; resources perspective; prediction-observation-explanation (POE) strategy.
In an attempt to reflect the epistemic aspect of the scientific community
(Duschl, 2008), it has been emphasized that we need to implement
scientific argumentation—the process of justifying and critically evaluating knowledge claims—in science classrooms (Driver et al., 2000;
NGSS Lead States, 2013). Despite the arguments emphasizing the
importance of scientific argumentation, many science teachers continue to struggle to adopt this epistemic practice in their classes. To
provide support for teachers of biology in this situation, there have
been efforts to design argumentation activities for biology classes
(Chen & Steenhoek, 2014; Sampson & Schleigh, 2013).
Nevertheless, in the process of adopting these activities in class-
rooms, various problems have been encountered. In particular, the
expectation of many students to be passive recipients of scientific
knowledge, a role they were accustomed to in traditional instruc-
tional environments, often resulted in them trying to satisfy teachers
with superficial work (Berland & Hammer, 2012). Recognizing such
epistemic aspects of students, literature to date has emphasized stu-
dents’ potential to engage in authentic argumentation activities, an
ability that could be activated in appropriate contexts (Berland &
Hammer, 2012). Thus, as a contribution to the design of argumen-
tation activities for science classrooms, we aimed to illustrate our
design and implementation of an argumentation activity with the
context for students to engage in authentic scientific argumentation.
Reinterpreting the Prediction-
Observation-Explanation Strategy from
a Resources Perspective on Designing an
Argumentation Activity
The prediction-observation-explanation (POE) strategy was developed based on Posner’s cognitive theory (Posner et al., 1982), as
a way to support students in replacing alternative conceptions with
scientific ones (White & Gunstone, 1992). This approach supports
students’ conceptual change by unveiling their alternative conceptions and offering opportunities to substitute scientific conceptions,
derived from external sources, for those already held. The POE
strategy has implications for the design of argumentation activities
in that it provides contexts that reveal students’ former knowledge
claims, accompanied by their justifications, and prompts a realiza-tion of the necessity of evaluating and revising former ideas based
on the new data students gather in the observation stage. However,
the cognitive basis of the POE strategy interprets students’
preconceptions as objects to be replaced, not as potential resources to be
developed into new knowledge. Classes based on this perspective
typically place students in the role of depending on another source
of knowledge to construct scientific justifications and thereby limit
the scope of their epistemic practices.
The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 80, No. 9, pp. 669–674, ISSN 0002-7685, electronic ISSN 1938-4211. © 2018 National Association of Biology Teachers. All rights
reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Reprints and Permissions web page,
www.ucpress.edu/journals.php?p=reprints. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2018.80.9.669.
THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER ARGUMENTATION ACTIVITY ABOUT THE SENSE OF VIBRATION
RESEARCH ON
L E A R N I N G Argumentation Activity about the
Sense of Vibration: Prediction-
Observation-Explanation Strategy
Based on the Resources
Perspective
• HEESOO HA, HEUI-BAIK KIM
