Finding the place of argumentation in science education: Epistemics and Whole Science

Douglas Allchin; Gábor Á. Zemplén

doi:10.1002/sce.21589

journal article Jul 15, 2020

Finding the place of argumentation in science education: Epistemics and Whole Science

Douglas Allchin

Gábor Á. Zemplén

Science Education Vol. 104 No. 5 pp. 907-933 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1002/sce.21589

Abstract

AbstractArgumentation constitutes an important element in nature of science education. However, its virtues and scope can be overstated. Here, we survey in detail the place of argumentation in science education. Our benchmark is the range of epistemic processes relevant to citizens and consumers as they assess the reliability of scientific claims in personal and public decision making. We consider multiple epistemic stages in the development (or ontogeny) of such claims: (a) observation and material investigation; (b) the crafting of concepts through individual cognition; (c) the checks and balances of the scientific community; (d) the challenges of credibility and expertise in a cultural context; and (e) the interpretation of “science in the wild,” where authentic scientific claims mingle with imitators and misinformation on the Internet and social media and in public discourse. We conclude that many conventional rationalist assumptions haunt current approaches to argumentation and limit its effectiveness, especially in the implicit goal of achieving intellectual independence for students as autonomous scientific agents. A more fruitful approach, from the perspective of functional scientific literacy, is a Whole Science perspective, which gives full expression to the spectrum of epistemic processes in science and science communication.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

221

[1]

10.1007/978-94-007-7654-8_45

[2]

10.1007/978-94-6300-749-8_12

[3]

10.1086/psaprocbienmeetp.1994.1.193008

[4]

10.1086/392732

[5]

10.1023/a:1024064409773

[6]

10.1023/b:sced.0000025563.35883.e9

[7]

10.1002/sce.20026

[8]

10.1007/s11191-005-8922-9

[9]

Allchin D. (2009)

[10]

10.1007/s11191-011-9368-x

[11]

10.1525/abt.2012.74.9.13

[12]

10.1525/abt.2012.74.5.17

[13]

10.1002/sce.21019

[14]

10.1525/abt.2012.74.4.17

[15]

10.1525/abt.2013.75.2.16

[16]

Allchin D. (2013)

[17]

Allchin D. "Correcting the “self‐correcting” mythos of science" Filosofia e História da Biologia (2015)

[18]

10.1525/abt.2015.77.4.12

[19]

Allchin D. (2017) 10.1093/oso/9780190490362.001.0001

[20]

10.1525/abt.2018.80.5.397

[21]

10.1525/abt.2018.80.8.631

[22]

Allchin D. "Historical inquiry cases for nature of science learning" Cadernos de História da Ciencia (2019)

[23]

Allchin D. (2019) 10.7476/9786586221664.0006

[24]

10.1525/abt.2020.82.3.188

[25]

Allchin D.(forthcoming). The credibility game.American Biology Teacher

[26]

10.1002/sce.21111

[27]

10.1007/s10838-016-9336-x

[28]

American Press Institute. (2019).News literacy sources. Retrieved fromhttps://www.americanpressinstitute.org/youth-news-literacy/resources

[29]

Ariely D. (2008)

[30]

Bachelard G. (1953)

[31]

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199348305.001.0001

[32]

Bechtel W. (1993)

[33]

10.1002/tea.20446

[34]

10.1002/sce.20420

[35]

Boehm C. (2012)

[36]

10.5539/ies.v12n9p1

[37]

Saving the Phenomena

James Bogen, James Woodward

The Philosophical Review 10.2307/2185445

[38]

10.1177/053901847501400602

[39]

10.1002/sce.20278

[40]

Broad W. (1982)

[41]

Callebaut W. (1993)

[42]

10.1037/h0040373

[43]

10.1126/science.335.6072.1027

[44]

Center for Media Literacy. (2018).CML Media Literacy Kit. Retrieved fromhttps://www.medialit.org/cml-medialit-kit

[45]

Managing uncertainty in scientific argumentation

Ying‐Chih Chen, Matthew J. Benus, Jaclyn Hernandez

Science Education 10.1002/sce.21527

[46]

10.4159/9780674242111

[47]

10.22329/il.v17i2.2406

[48]

Collins H. (1985)

[49]

10.1177/0306312702032002003

[50]

10.7208/chicago/9780226113623.001.0001

Showing 50 of 221 references

Metrics

32

Citations

221

References

Details

Published: Jul 15, 2020
Vol/Issue: 104(5)
Pages: 907-933
License: View

Authors

D

Douglas Allchin

Minnesota Center for the Philosophy of Science University of Minnesota Minneapolis Minnesota

G

Gábor Á. Zemplén

ELTE Institute of Business Economics Eötvös Loránd University Budapest Hungary

Cite This Article

Douglas Allchin, Gábor Á. Zemplén (2020). Finding the place of argumentation in science education: Epistemics and Whole Science. Science Education, 104(5), 907-933. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21589

Finding the place of argumentation in science education: Epistemics and Whole Science

You May Also Like