ABSTRACT

The purpose of the design project was to develop and evaluate an assembleable material structure that forms and mobilizes student reasoning during science inquiry by way of constituting an interactive analogy of goal argumentation mechanics. Learning to support a claim with evidence is fundamental to appropriating scientific practice. Science educators and national standards have thus called to enhance the practice of science argumentation throughout K—12. Research on argumentation suggests that students are challenged in particular to explain how or why their evidence supports their claim, albeit they are quite persuasive and adept at making arguments about personally relevant issues. The chapter explores an accessible, common, concrete, cultural analogy for students to encode structural components of their scientific argumentation while they reason about specific content. The finding was that the material anchor was understood and appropriated by the participants to enhance their argumentation.