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Complexity of secondary scientific data sources and students’ argumentative discourse

350 210 Stroud Water Research Center

Kerlin, S., S. McDonald, and G. Kelly. 2010. International Journal of Science Education 32(9):1207–1225.

doi: 10.1080/09500690902995632

Abstract

This study examined the learning opportunities provided to students through the use of complex geological data supporting scientific inquiry. Through analysis of argumentative discourse in a high school Earth science classroom, uses of US Geological Survey (USGS) data were contrasted with uses of geoscience textbook data. To examine these differences, we conducted a review of frameworks for argumentation analysis, and through adaptation to the research foci of this study, developed a new analytic approach. Applying this approach to student classroom discourse revealed the affordances and constraints of both the complex USGS datasets and the filtered textbook data sources. The challenges of teaching with complex data are presented.