Most of the research on argumentation in science education has documented the myriad flaws in students' argumentation, and the difficulties teachers have organising productive arguments in the classroom. We apply a sociocultural framework to argue that productive argumentation emerges from a classroom culture in which its practice meaningfully…

This paper traces the sophisticated negotiations to re-inscribe the authority of Nature when a school science experiment fails during the enactment of a highly rated science curriculum unit. Drawing on transcriptions from classroom videotapes, we identify and describe four primary patterns of interaction that characterize this process, arguing…

The ultimate goal of this study was to specify conditions which affect achievement in the chemistry laboratory through an understanding of instructor-student interaction. The Flanders System of Interaction Analysis was used to measure the ratio of indirect to direct teaching (I/D/ Ratio) during pre-lab and post-lab sections of eight two-hour…

Reported is a study designed to describe the nature of teacher-pupil-materials interactions occurring in classrooms using Australian Science Education Project (ASEP) materials and to investigate relationships between these interaction patterns, changes in student achievement and attitudes toward science in classes taught by teachers whose…

An observational system for classroom interaction based on the nature of science is reported. Author reasons that structure of the discipline must be considered while evolving an interaction analysis system. (PS)

Reports results of a study of biology classes in Israel that includes describing transactions in a representative sample of biology classes (N=22) in the year 1973, comparing transactions in recitation with those of laboratory lessons, and studying the effects of subject matter on the classroom transaction. (CS)

Studies the effects of student-structured (SSLS) and teacher-structured (TSLS) teaching strategies. SSLS students consistently exhibited lower frequencies of teacher dependency behaviors than TSLS students. Need affiliation results varied with the grade level of students. (MA)

In this paper progress made in the systematic study of science classrooms is examined. Discussion centers on research studies related to three questions: (1) What is the nature of the environment in science classrooms? (2) What inputs to the classroom influence the environment? and (3) What environmental characteristics are related to student…