forms of justification

summary

Students use many different forms of justifications, including empirical evidence (McNeill & Krajcik, 2012), science ideas (Osborne et al., 2004), appeals to authority, plausible mechanisms, and prior experiences (Sandoval & Cam, 2011). While students may use many different forms of justification, some forms are more accepted within the scientific community.  One example is the preference for data as a form of justification (Sandoval & Cam, 2011).  While another form of justification, such as science ideas or an appeal to authority, used in combination with empirical evidence can serve to further strengthen the argument, the value of these other forms of justification diminish when they stand-alone.  In this project we present a way to measure students’ abilities to critique the forms of justification in reading, writing, and talking tasks.

definitions

• Empirical evidence: using observations or measurements to support the claim

• Science ideas: using scientific concepts that support the claim

• Authority: appealing to what an expert or scientist said to support the claim

• Prior experiences: appealing to something students have previously seen or felt to support the claim

• Plausible mechanisms: contriving a process (mechanism) to make sense of a phenomenon, but is not necessarily scientifically accurate
• Justification: something that is used to support a claim.
  

Construct map

A construct is a characteristic of an argument. Construct maps use research on student learning as well as expert knowledge to separate the construct into distinct levels that characterize students' progression towards greater expertise (Wilson, 2005).  The reading forms of justification construct map (see below) has three levels: 1) identifies, 2) interprets, and 3) compares & critiques.



• Construct Map

assessments

We developed items that correspond to the identifies, interprets, and compares & critiques levels of the reading forms of justification construct map.  Each item targets the ability associated with a single construct level.  For instance, if a student answers the first two items correctly, then his ability corresponds to at least the "interprets" level.   

Each set of three items uses the same introductory information, which consists of a wonderment statement followed by a sample student's argument.  Because the three items use the same introductory information, albeit in different ways, we refer to the set of three items as a testlet.  We developed four different testlets.  While the topic of two of the testlets focuses on earthquakes, the other two testlets focus on volcanoes. 

• Earthquakes 1 Testlet
  
• Earthquakes 2 Testlet
  
• Volcanoes 1 Testlet
  
• Volcanoes 2 Testlet
  

rubrics and answer key

The items at the identifies and interprets levels are multiple-choice, whereas the compares & critiques items are constructed response.  Therefore, we developed a rubric to grade/score the constructed response item within each of the testlets.  Each rubric includes sample student responses for each level.  The document below provides the answers to the multiple choice items as well as specific rubrics for the constructed response item within each testlet. 

• Answer Keys & Rubrics

teaching strategies

It is our hope that, over time, students abilities will move towards the compares & critiques level of the construct map.  To assist teachers with this goal, we have developed teaching strategies that correspond to each level of the construct map.

Construct Level

3:  Compare & Critique



2: Interpret



1: Identifies





0: Does Not Identify

Description of teaching Strategies

Compare and contrast two arguments, examining relative strength of each


Compare and contrast two arguments



Identify justifications in short, written arguments and compare justifications within a single argument



Teaching Provide accessible examples of justifications and compile a class chart listing "Forms of Justification"

Resources

• Sample Venn Diagram

• Sample T-chart

• Sample T-chart
  

• Example Argument 1 with Various Forms of Justification
  
• Example Argument 2 with Various Forms of Justification
  

• Example: Class Chart
• Eel Argumentation Set
  

1. Example Argument 2: Form of Justification - Data 
   
2. Example Argument 2: Form of Justification - Personal Observation
   
3. Example Argument 2: Form of Justification - Appeal to Authority

• Aspen Argumentation Set

1. Example Argument 1: Form of Justification - Data
2. Example Argument 1: Form of Justification - Personal Opinion
   
3. Example Argument 1  : Form of Justification - Appeal to Authority

Tech reports

The tech report provides the psychometric analyses from pilot studies with middle school students.

• Tech Report: Reading FoJ
  

references

McNeill, K. L., & Krajcik, J. (2012). Supporting grade 5–8 students in constructing explanations in science: The claim, evidence and reasoning framework for talk and writing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Osborne, J., Erduran, S., & Simon, S. (2004). Enhancing the quality of argumentation in school science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(10), 994-1020. 

Sandoval, W. A., & Cam, A. (2011). Elementary children’s judgments of the epistemic status of sources of justification. Science Education, 95(3), 383-408.

Wilson, M. (2005). Constructing Measures: An Item Response Modeling Approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate.