Argumentação no ensino de Química: textos de divulgação científica desencadeando debates

Abstract

A large body of science education literature suggests that argumentation plays a central role in science and should therefore maintain the same centrality in science education. However, opportunities for students to engage in argumentation inside the science classroom are rare. In light of the above, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of a teaching strategy based on the debate on controversial socio-scientific issues to promote argumentation. The strategy involved in-class group work and individual efforts outside the classroom. After receiving science popularization texts on depleted uranium (DU), high school students worked on a set of questions designed to guide them through key chemical, environmental, and economic aspects of the text. The process culminated in a debate between pro- and anti-DU groups. To assess the quality of students argumentation, videotapes of group presentations were collected and analyzed using Toulmin s Argument Pattern and the Argumentation Model of Analysis Applicable to Processes of Resolution of Socio-Scientific Issues. The findings of this work support the idea that the debate based on socio-scientific issues is an effective strategy for enhancing students ability to argument.