Argumentation and scientific consensus-building: using the nonfiction narrative to generate contextual understanding.
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| Title: | Argumentation and scientific consensus-building: using the nonfiction narrative to generate contextual understanding. |
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| Authors: | Larison, Karen D.1 karen-larison@uiowa.edu |
| Source: | Teaching in Higher Education. Jan 2022, Vol. 27 Issue 1, p130-139. 10p. 1 Diagram. |
| Subject Terms: | *Science education, Scientific literacy, Narratives, Debate, Nonfiction |
| Abstract: | Although students in college science courses typically learn laboratory techniques and practices, few are taught about the communicative interactions that occur within the larger scientific community. In this paper, I propose that to educate a scientifically literate public — one that comprehends the centrality of argument in the production of scientifically sound information — science instructors must generate an understanding of how consensus is reached within a community of scientists. I use a chapter from a popular science book as an exemplar to illustrate how narrative can be used in an introductory undergraduate science course to inculcate contextual understanding as to why scientists argue. It is in the undergraduate classroom that we groom students to be our future scientists, science teachers, and scientifically literate citizens. The lively and often contentious debates detailed in this chapter can help these students gain a contextual understanding of the role of argumentation in constructing scientific knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Abstract: | Although students in college science courses typically learn laboratory techniques and practices, few are taught about the communicative interactions that occur within the larger scientific community. In this paper, I propose that to educate a scientifically literate public — one that comprehends the centrality of argument in the production of scientifically sound information — science instructors must generate an understanding of how consensus is reached within a community of scientists. I use a chapter from a popular science book as an exemplar to illustrate how narrative can be used in an introductory undergraduate science course to inculcate contextual understanding as to why scientists argue. It is in the undergraduate classroom that we groom students to be our future scientists, science teachers, and scientifically literate citizens. The lively and often contentious debates detailed in this chapter can help these students gain a contextual understanding of the role of argumentation in constructing scientific knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 13562517 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/13562517.2021.1965569 |
