Assessing the argumentation ability of pre-service teachers. Case study concerning the chemical dissolution process

Abstract

The scientific argumentation ability of pre-service teachers (PSTs) in the early stages of education is essential as they will provide students with their initial grounding in the scientific knowledge. A total of 133 pre-service Early Childhood (PSEC) and Primary (PSP) School teachers undertook an argumentation activity concerning how the dissolution process takes place. The design of this activity is as a clear example of the different levels of complexity of the argumentation ability in science. The results show that PSTs consolidated the categories identification of evidence and construction of warrant. However, the abilities to provide a counter-critique and construct a comparative argument are still not consolidated. The Mann-Whitney U test did not show any significant differences between groups with high levels of difficulty. In contrast, we found significant differences for the identification of evidence in favour of PSPs.