Examining Factors Affecting Teachers’ Beliefs in Introducing Arguments into Science Classes

—Focusing on Research by McNeill et al.—

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the papers of McNeill et al., who are studying teachers’ beliefs about introducing arguments into science classes, to examine factors that influence teachers’ beliefs about teaching argumentation, and to uncover insights that can be used in the education of teachers who introduces argumentation into their science classes in Japan. Three papers were examined: Pimentel & McNeill (2013), Katsh-Singer, McNeill, & Loper (2016), McNeill, Katsh-Singer, González-Howard, & Loper (2016). In this study, teachers’ beliefs about introducing argumentation into their classes are discussed using the seven belief categories from Katsh-Singer et al. (2016). In this study, factors that influence beliefs can mean the reason why the teacher has a strong belief, or the reason why the teacher does not have a strong belief. As a result of analyzing and examining questionnaire surveys, interview results, and considerations for the subjects described in each paper, it became clear that the following three factors affect teachers’ beliefs about argument instruction. (1) Students’ backgrounds, including student experience, academic ability, awareness, and home environment (2) Teacher values related to classes, instruction, and evaluation (3) Teachers’ experience in teaching argumentation. The results of the study suggest that future work is needed to develop teacher education research in order to more effectively introduce argumentation into science education in Japan. For this purpose, it is necessary to broaden the scope of the study to include elementary school teachers and pre-service teachers, and to compare the results with the factors affecting the beliefs about argumentation that were found in this study.