Students’ Argumentation in Group Discussions on a Socio-Scientific Issue

Abstract

Socio-scientific issues in class have been proposed in an effort to democratise science in society. They offer opportunities to develop students’ argumentation skills. We have explored how students elaborate arguments in the context of small group discussions on a socio-scientific controversy about mobile phones. The analysis of the discursive practices allowed to identify various argumentation processes within students’ group discussions. Students’ arguments were elaborated from scientific data, common ideas and epistemological and strategic considerations. Students’ social interactions influenced the patterns of argumen- tation elaborated within the group discussions. Implications of this study for the teaching of socio-scientific issues in class are discussed Keywords: