Enhancing Dialogic Argumentation in Mathematics and Science

Abstract

This paper reports on a teacher professional development (PD) programme addressing dialogic argumentation in mathematics and science classrooms. While argumentation skills are becoming more and more important in an increasingly polarised society, the social aspect of argumentation is often neglected in secondary education. Moreover, it is agreed that genuine argumentation requires time and space in classroom dialogue. There have been calls for research delving into how teachers could be familiarised with dialogic argumentation so that they could foster such dialogue in students. The described PD programme features versatile and continuous cooperation between scholars and participating teachers. The scholars are offering educational science’s latest knowledge to schools while the teachers are ensuring that it is implemented in a successful and sensible manner. Monthly recorded lessons related to the programme take place in three phases: pre-active (planning), interactive (teaching), and post-active (evaluating and reflecting). Six teachers, teaching both mathematics and physics at lower-secondary schools, are involved in the two-year programme. In addition to discussing our PD programme, we present preliminary results on the initial status of all six teachers and the development of two case teachers. Analysis of lesson videos and teacher reflections has revealed varying starting points for teachers’ PD and dialogic argumentation, especially when it comes to teacher awareness. The implications for pre- and in-service teacher education are also discussed.