Lower Primary School Students’ Scientific Arguments

Abstract

The present study investigates the structure and the content of oral scientific arguments constructed by the 6-year-old students in Greece when they answered questions about light propagation through objects, the dissolution of substances in water, and the flow of electric current through objects. The research was conducted with the participation of 64 primary school students (6 years old), while the interview served as the data collection tool. Research data included students’ answers (arguments) to the questions of the interview. Students’ scientific arguments were analyzed through rubrics evaluating the sufficiency and the appropriateness of the components of the arguments. The analysis of the data allowed the categories of students’ arguments to be determined. It was found that students’ arguments included sufficient and appropriate claims, some of them included sufficient and appropriate evidence, but they included no reasonings or rebuttals at all.