Special Topics in Education - Argumentation in Science and Math
Code
EDU 700
Short Course Description
This course was taught by multiple professors and explored the use of argumentation in mathematics and science as a teaching tool. The Toulmin argumentation model was examined and different examples of using argumentation in math and science problems were explored. Students created a lesson that utilized argumentation as their final project.
Greatest Course Takeaways
My greatest takeaway from this course was the power of teaching students about argumentation and its use as a tool to help students learn. The rules of argumentation require that you use data and other information as evidence to support your claim, which paves a path for students to look at all aspects of the scenario to explain "why" as opposed to spitting out the expected answer or the "what". Since students have to link this information to support their claim (via a warrant), they have the opportunity to look at the data and decide what is evidence and why. This gives power to students in the classroom by promoting ownership of knowledge making. It also allows students to explain things from their perspective using their own words and ideas, which is beneficial to not only giving them voice but understanding what they know and what they are struggling with during the unit.
Another takeaway from this course for me as an educator was one of the group work techniques that we utilized in class. I remember it distinctly even though the course occurred many years ago. For this task, we had to examine what factors were influencing a change in bee populations based upon the data provided and the argument we developed. We were placed into groups and each group had one piece or set of data. The group would study their information, and then all the groups were broken up and placed into new groups that contained one member from each of the original groups. That member became the resident expert in the data from their original group and worked with the other resident experts to determine what was causing changes in the bee population. I loved this idea so much that I utilized it a semester later in the professional engineering course that I taught about lifelong learning and professional development. We utilized this groupwork technique and argumentation as an example of the importance of looking at information, determining what is evidence and what is not, and learning from each other as crucial aspects of lifelong learning.
Course Product Description
The course product that I selected for my portfolio was the final project for the course. In this project, we were required to demonstrate our understanding of argumentation in math and science by designing a phenomenon-based engagement with math or science ideas for a target student audience of either K-12 learners, undergraduate learners, or pre-service teachers. Our design had to be a multi-day unit with evidence-based backing for both the phenomenon and for the instructional design aspect of the lesson.
For my project, I created a unit about the flow of fluid through pipes and Reynold's number for the undergraduate engineering classroom. The main activity for this unit involved breaking students into groups with different types of pipes and different types of fluids. They were to measure how the fluids flowed through the pipe and record data based on their observations. Then, they converged as a class to share their findings and start to piece together which factors were important to the flow of the fluid and why via argumentation skills. The students then worked on additional problems involving these concepts and the Reynold's number.
Click Here to See the Course Product for this Course and Others in the Portfolio.
Selection of Product for Portfolio
I selected this product for my portfolio because I wanted to showcase my ability to make an engineering-based argumentation lesson that was neither solely science or mathematics in background. I also selected this project to include because I truly enjoyed taking an engineering concept that is often taught in the classroom as just equations and practice problems on the chalkboard and turning it into a hands-on, phenomenon-based activity for the students to engage with. Many of my engineering students are kinesthetic learners in which examples of scenarios impact their efficiency in receiving and remembering information. Utilizing a hands-on activity such as the one presented in this lesson allows them to put experience to the testing of the concept, which could be more effective for kinesthetic learners than simply reading about the subject.
I also included this project in my portfolio because it showcased my growth in lesson planning compared to my previous course product (the papermaking lesson in SCI 544 (Teaching of College Science)). This plan is more organized and considers what students need to know (prior knowledge) to successfully participate in this lesson. It consists of a clear description of how the lesson is setup, including the groups and materials needed. It also provides background information for the instructor in charge, sample conversations and scenarios of what to expect in student conversations, formulas and examples of answers to the activity problems, and issues that may occur during the lesson and adjustments that can be made in the materials utilized. It shows the expected time each part of the unit will take as well to show better time management during the lesson (which was an issue in the previous papermaking lesson). I like this setup for the lesson plan as well because it relies less on a script and more on the flow and potential paths the unit can take.
Contribution of Product to Overall Program
This course product was important to my overall program because it demonstrated another teaching tool that is powerful in the science, math, and engineering fields in which I hope to teach in the future. Not only that, but it allowed me to learn and work with examples in the collegiate science and engineering classroom instead of just the K-12 atmosphere. Argumentation is a useful technique that can engage students in learning by having them observe different data points involved in a problem and determine what they consider claims and evidence from their own perspective. This empowers students as creators of knowledge and helps students use their own voice and ideas to work through the explanation of a phenomenon. I truly loved this course and course product because it showed me that not everything - even laboratories - have to be cookie cutter or centered on the lecturer. An activity such as the one developed for this course product may take more time in the classroom than just telling the students the relationship between the variables in the flow of fluids through a pipe, but it can be more impactful and memorable for student learning than just another example on the board.
Developing this course product also helped me highlight skills that are important for engineering students to know: communication, investigation, observation and testing, and utilizing data to support claims. In the field, engineers in the pulp and paper industry or other chemical engineering areas will need to be able to troubleshoot, think of solutions, test equipment and scenarios, and explain to management why a certain issue is occurring or an approach is recommended to remedy a problem. Their ability to succeed in this avenue depends upon their ability to select data that can be proper evidence to support their claim. Working on open-ended, complex problems like the one in the course product at the classroom level allows students to start working with these skills and familiarize themselves with this process. I feel that through this course product, I have a better understanding of how I can craft lessons that assist and support the students I will serve in the science and engineering fields. This course product - while not specifically implemented in the classroom - and the technique of argumentation learned in this course helped me create a lesson in the professional engineering skills course that I teach that students enjoyed engaging in. This was a great opportunity to strengthen my ability to make collegiate level science and engineering lessons, which was a focal point of the design of my Teaching and Curriculum program.