An investigation into secondary teachers’ views of argumentation in science and religious education

Journal article

Citizens often face problems and dilemmas about which they need to make decisions and choices that impact their everyday lives. Some of these issues are related to science and religion. For example, genetic cloning, nuclear energy and climate change can potentially appeal to moral and religious values as well as scientific knowledge. The ability to coordinate knowledge and values in reaching justified conclusions has thus become increasingly important in contemporary democratic societies. The process of justification of knowledge claims with evidence and reasons is often referred to as ‘argumentation’. Curriculum standards of school subjects such as science and religious education (RE) include references to argumentation, and teachers are expected to teach to these standards. Yet, there is often limited opportunity for teachers of conventionally disparate subjects to express their understanding of how argumentation is broadly conceptualised in their own subject and in relation to other school subjects. The primary purpose of this paper is to report an empirical study that investigated how science and RE teachers view the nature of argumentation. The empirical data were drawn from 16 science and 17 RE teachers’ responses to survey questions. The findings illustrate how teachers describe both the distinguishing features (e.g. the forms of evidence acceptable for substantiating a claim) and similarities (e.g. the structures and processes of argument construction) of argumentation in science and religious education.

Authors: Guilfoyle, L; Erduran, S; Park, W

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Journal: Journal of Beliefs and Values: Studies in Religion and Education
• Volume: 42
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 190-204
• Publication date: 2020-08-17
• Acceptance date: 2020-08-03
• DOI: 10.1080/13617672.2020.1805925
• EISSN: 1469-9362
• ISSN: 1361-7672
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR