Effect of Scientific Argumentation on the Development of Critical Thinking

Abstract

The paper reports a study that focussed on investigating the effectiveness of Toulmin’s argument pattern (TAP) within Think-Read-Group-Share-Reflect (TRGSR) scientific argumentation strategy on higher secondary students’ critical thinking. A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest-control group design was deployed. The subjects were 50 twelfth grade students. The experimental group was taught with TAP within TRGSR scientific argumentation strategy, and on the other hand, the control group was taught with the traditional teaching approach (regular way of teaching that happens in the school otherwise). To measure the critical thinking ability, Watson-Glaser critical thinking appraisal Form–S was administered to both groups as a pre- and a posttest. The test contained 40 items with 5 elements (inference, recognition of assumptions, deduction, interpretation, and evaluation of arguments). After a 9-week-long intervention, analysis of covariance findings showed that there was a significant difference on the students’ critical thinking ability between experimental and control groups. The students who were exposed to TAP within TRGSR scientific argumentation strategy proved to improve the ability of critical thinking. TAP coupled with TRGSR scientific argumentation strategy is relatively more effective in developing critical thinking ability than the traditional teaching approach.

Appendix. The sample argument

Problem: Predict the number of children per woman, to get an appropriate age pyramid by 2050 of the countries like India, China, Iraq, the USA, and Japan

Each group takes a single country to estimate the appropriate population with appropriate age pyramid. Here, for Japan, the illustration is provided as developed by one of the groups.

The fundamental resources used for the above problem are “Annenberg Learner - Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum”, from this website “Demographics Lab” a simulator was used by students to understand the human population growth, recognize the demographic transition in human history, and gain a sense of how population demographics has a very human impact in all areas of our planet. The following link takes to the demographic lab interactive.

http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/interactives/demographics/demog.html

As explained in Table 2, to begin the teaching learning process, facilitator poses the problem and explains the background of it very briefly, students think of the problem during this point of time, and then, students move on to read the handout individually provided by the facilitator; soon after completion of the reading, they make groups and form the argument.

An argument for appropriate age pyramid of Japan as developed by a group is illustrated below. The following problem is one of the eight activities planned for the experimental group. The researcher presents sample argument of single group; here the argument features only three elements (Claim, Data, and Warrant).

Group 1: Argument

Claim: If Japanese women adopt 2 children per woman their population will be stable.

Data: In Fig. 2a, the data obtained from demographics lab simulator shows that if Japan adopts two children per woman, it shows a stable age pyramid, while in Fig. 2b if the population grows less than 1 child per woman, then the population will be declined (74 M), or if it adopts for 3 children per woman the population density will be too high for Japan. In Fig. 2a, b & c, age pyramids for different numbers of children per woman are shown. From Fig. 2a, it is clear that 2.00 children per woman show a stable age pyramid.

Fig. 2

Age pyramids for different numbers of children per woman

Warrant: Japan has always been described as a country with virtually no major natural resources such as natural gas, oil, gold, coal, copper, and iron. Forests in Japan have high-quality and wide varieties of trees. Forty percent of the forests in the country are planted forests. In 2015, the forestry industry in Japan produced approximately 20 million cubic metres of wood, translating to revenue of 436 billion yen (277.22 billion rupees). The industry accounts for 0.04% of the country’s GDP. Agriculture and fishing are the primary sectors of the Japanese economy. However, only 20% of the total land area is suitable for cultivation and agricultural sector is highly subsidized. There are approximately 4 million farm households in Japan. It has a very high standard of living, with its population enjoying the highest life expectancy. Considering all these reasons, 2 or 2.52 children per woman would be appropriate for Japan, to remain self-sufficient. If it goes beyond 3 children per woman, the population age pyramid may be stable but populous density would be very high to such an extent that the country may not support the basic resources of its people, so we conclude that it will be good for Japan to adopt 2.52 children for 1 woman.