How a marginalized student’s attempts to position himself as an accepted member are constrained or afforded in small-group argumentation

Abstract

Argumentation activities in the science classroom bring students’ social relationships to the forefront, which can make it difficult for a student who is marginalized in peer relationships to participate in discussions. In this study, we qualitatively analyzed how a marginalized student’s attempts to position himself as an accepted member of small-group argumentation activities were constrained or afforded by other group members in a Korean science classroom. The results show that the students limited the marginalized student’s participation by shifting to unproductive framing. The following two features were identified when the marginalized student’s ideas were addressed in the discussions: (a) his idea was acknowledged as being closer to group members’ understanding of the argumentation activity in the science classroom, and (b) he invited the other students to modify his understanding. This study’s findings provide useful information for designing instructional strategies that provide equitable learning opportunities in argumentation activities in the science classroom.

요약

과학 수업 속 논변활동에서는 학생들 간의 사회적 관계가 드러날 수 있으며, 이로 인해 또래 관계에서 소외된 학생은 논의에 참여하는 데에 어려움을 겪을 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 또래 관계에서 소외된 학생이 과학 수업 속 소집단 논변활동에서 활동에 기여할 수 있는 멤버로서 인정받고자 시도할 때, 그러한 시도가 다른 학생들에 의해 어떻게 수용되거나 제약 받는지를 프레이밍의 관점에서 탐색했다. 이를 위해 또래 관계에서 소외된 학생의 소집단 논변활동에서 이루어진 학생들의 활동을 질적 분석 방법으로 탐색하였다. 분석 결과, 학생들이 논변활동을 비생산적인 활동으로 프레임함으로써 소외된 학생의 논변활동 참여를 제약함이 나타났다. 한편, 소외된 학생이 활동에 기여할 수 있는 멤버로서 인정받고자 한 시도는 그가 제시한 의견이 다른 학생들이 생각하는 “논변활동”에 부합하거나 그가 다른 학생들이 자신의 의견을 수정하도록 초청했을 때 수용된 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구 결과는 과학 수업에서 모든 학생들에게 논변활동에 참여할 수 있는 기회를 지원하기 위한 교수 방안 마련에 기여할 수 있을 것으로 기대한다.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Contents of the argumentation activities implemented in the science classroom

Lesson #	Activity topic	Specific activities
1	Introduction to argumentation	Introduction to argumentation activity and argument structure
	Establishing rules for small-group activity	Establish rules for small-group activity
2	Function of roots	Argue for the function of roots, which is supporting the plant versus absorbing water
3	Osmosis (carrot’s water absorption)	Watch how sugar inside the carrot disappears when the carrot is soaked in water and construct an explanation for this phenomenon
4	Transportation of water through xylem	Develop arguments about the leaves’ color, when the stem of a lily is divided in half and the halves are soaked in red- and blue-pigmented water
5	Observation of the leaf tissue	Observe a microscopic photograph of a leaf as well as the leaf tissue’s structure and argue which side of the leaf in the photograph is the upper side
	Transpiration	Predict whether a plant with or without petroleum jelly on the leaves will grow better
6	Reactants of photosynthesis	Design an experiment to verify that carbon dioxide is used for photosynthesis
7	Light intensity and photosynthesis	Critically evaluate two interpretations of the results of an experiment about photosynthesis and light intensity; then, choose the more persuasive argument
	Cellular respiration of beans	Develop arguments about whether a germinated bean or a non-germinated bean is heavier
8	Girdling	Observe a photograph that shows a tree that has been peeled such that the top part has bulged and develop an argument to explain this phenomenon

Appendix 2

Coding results of discourses following June’s discursive moves that conveyed June’s positional framing in each lesson

June’s discursive moves conveying his positional framing	Types of discourse following June’s utterances in the lesson #
	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Capable of presenting reasoning	Cons (1)	Cons (3)	Cons (4) Afford (1)	Cons (7) Afford (2)	Cons (1)	Cons (5)	Afford (3)
Capable of presenting epistemological framing	Cons (1)	–	–	Cons (1)	Cons (1)	Cons (5) Afford (1)	Afford (1) Cons (2)
Capable of presenting reflection on previous epistemic practices	Cons (1)	–	Cons (2)	Cons (3)	Cons (2)	Cons (2)	Afford (2)

1. Cons: Constrained June’s participation, Afford: Afforded June’s participation
2. The following discussion type (number of episodes)