LanguageTerm (authority = ISO 639-3:2007); (type = text)
English
Abstract (type = abstract)
Science education has moved toward engaging students in the practices of science, including modeling, argumentation, and explanation (Krajcik, McNeill, & Reiser, 2008). One way to engage students in these practices is through model-based inquiry learning environments in which they engage in scientific practices including argumentation using evidence (Lehrer, Schauble, & Lucas, 2008). Students develop verbal and written arguments through interpreting and identifying evidence and using them to support or develop a model that explains the evidence. But there are challenges for students: students may not understand certain aspects of argumentation, including argument construction, evaluating claims and evidence, and using evidence to justify a claim (Driver, Newton, & Osborne, 2000; Sandoval & Millwood, 2005), because this practice is different from the practices with which they are familiar (McNeill, 2011; Ryu & Sandoval, 2012).
To address the challenges of learning to argue with models and evidence, it is important to examine the trajectories of change in students’ argumentation along multiple dimensions of reasoning. By exploring students’ written arguments at different points of instruction and over an extended period of time, one can look to see when change in students’ arguments actually occurred and how this change occurs (Ryu & Sandoval, 2012). To determine the changes in students’ written arguments that can occur over multiple months of model-based inquiry instruction, I analyzed students’ written argumentation during a six-month implementation of a model-based inquiry curriculum. In my analyses, I focused on how components of students’ arguments changed and identified patterns of change in arguments across time for individual students as well as for higher-performing and lower-performing students.
The purpose of the study was to examine the trajectories of change in students’ written arguments, by focusing on how students’ reasoning emerges, identifying differences in the quality and structure of students’ arguments, and if certain competencies appear first before others develop. This study will help to advance our understanding of how student’s reasoning emerges and changes over the school year, and how it can be supported in a model-based inquiry classroom.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Education
Subject (authority = LCSH)
Topic
Science -- Study and teaching
Subject (authority = LCSH)
Topic
Rhetoric -- Study and teaching
Subject (authority = LCSH)
Topic
Technical writing -- Study and teaching
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_10323
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (xi, 224 pages) : illustrations
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.