Brainstorming:
What kinds of things do scientists spend
their time on?
What kinds of things do students spend
their time on during school science?
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
Scientists' Activities
Writing Science Doing Science
25%
25%
Reading Science Talking Science
25%
25%
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
Students' Activities in Science Writing
Reading
ABOUT
Science
20%
Science
5%
Doing
Science
15%
LISTENING
to Science
60%
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
Scientists' Activities
Writing Science Doing Science
25%
25%
Reading Science Talking Science
25%
25%
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
Scientific Practices from NGSS
1. Asking questions and defining problems
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
6. Constructing explanations
7. Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating
information
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
What does “argument” and “argumentation”
mean to you?
What are the differences between everyday
arguments and scientific argumentation?
Engaging in argument from evidence =
Scientific Argumentation
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
In a classroom science activity, students
pour sugar grains into a glass of hot water
and then stir.
The class makes 3 observations after stirring:
1. The sugar can no longer be seen.
2. The water tastes sweet.
3. The weight of the water glass and the
sugar before it was added to the water is the
same as the weight of the water glass after
the sugar was stirred in.
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
1. The sugar can no longer be seen.
2. The water tastes sweet.
3. The weight of the water glass and the sugar before it was added to the water is the same
as the weight of the water glass after the sugar was stirred in.
The classroom teacher asks if the students
think sugar remains in the water.
Laura: “I think the sugar is gone.”
Mary: “I think the sugar is still there.”
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
1. The sugar can no longer be seen.
2. The water tastes sweet.
3. The weight of the water glass and the sugar before it was added to the water is the same
as the weight of the water glass after the sugar was stirred in.
Laura: “I think the sugar is gone.”
Mary: “I think the sugar is still there.”
Both students have made a CLAIM, but neither
uses EVIDENCE to support her claim.
What evidence could be used in support of
each claim?
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
Scientific arguments require a claim and
evidence supporting that claim.
Strong scientific arguments provide explicit
reasoning that links the evidence to the claim.
From Laura’s argument:
Before stirring, we could see the sugar.
After stirring, we could no longer see the
sugar. If the sugar remained, we would be
able to see it. Therefore, the sugar is gone.
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
Scientific arguments require a claim and
evidence supporting that claim.
Strong scientific arguments provide explicit
reasoning that links the evidence to the claim.
Claim
Reasoning
Evidence
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
1. The sugar can no longer be seen.
2. The water tastes sweet.
3. The weight of the water glass and the sugar before it was added to the water is the same
as the weight of the water glass after the sugar was stirred in.
Mary: “I think the sugar is still there.”
State a complete argument (with a claim,
evidence and reasoning) consistent with
Mary’s response.
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
1. The sugar can no longer be seen.
2. The water tastes sweet.
3. The weight of the water glass and the sugar before it was added to the water is the same
as the weight of the water glass after the sugar was stirred in.
The weight of the glass after stirring is the
same as the weight of the glass plus the sugar.
If the sugar was no longer present, the weight
of the overall system would decrease.
Therefore, the sugar must be in the water.
But what about the fact that the sugar can no
longer be seen?
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
The weight of the glass after stirring is the
same as the weight of the glass plus the sugar.
If the sugar was no longer present, the weight
of the overall system would decrease.
Therefore, the sugar must be in the water.
It is true that we can no longer see the sugar,
but not being able to see a substance does not
mean that it can’t be there. We can’t see
oxygen, but we know it is in the air.
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
A conversation from the Sadler family table…
Noah: Did you know that tangerines are grown in Argentina?
Troy: I did know that Argentina grew a lot of citrus fruit, so it
makes sense that they grow tangerines. How do you know
that tangerines are grown in Argentina?
Noah: You can rearrange the letters in Argentina to spell
tangerine.
Troy: What?!?!
Noah (with a big grin): If the letters in the name of a place
can be rearranged to spell something, then they must make
that thing in the place.
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
Consider a science lesson or activity that you do
with your students…
How could you modify the experience so that
students had opportunities to engage in
argumentation?
Writing arguments?
Group argumentation?
Analyzing arguments?
Finding evidence to support arguments?
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education
Thanks for your participation
Contact me with your questions: Troy Sadler sadlert@missouri.edu
Check out the ReSTEM Institute website:
http://bit.ly/ReSTEMInst
Look for “Presentations” link for a copy of the PPT.
Follow us on Twitter: @ReSTEMInst
The ReSTEM Institute:
Reimagining & Researching STEM Education