Professional Development Materials to Develop Student Knowledge and Skills of Scientific Argumentation

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The "Professional Development Materials to Develop Student Knowledge and Skills of Scientific Argumentation" project is a proof of concept project. This project proposes to produce prototype professional development materials to enhance the capacity of middle school teachers to increase students' science knowledge and argumentation skills (making claims, challenging claims, supporting claims with reasons, criticizing those reasons and explaining judgments). Subsequent to the development of the prototype, the project investigates the level of teacher implementation of the professional development materials. A total of 36 middle school teachers participate in the piloting of the professional development resources. Teachers participate in two weeks (60 hours) of professional development to learn how to implement the curriculum in their classrooms. They engage in 90 hours of on-line and after school activities to refine their understanding of argumentation skills. Approximately 1000 7th grade students will be impacted by the project. The project documents the development of scientific argumentation skills of the middle school students. The argumentation skills are predicted to benefit students beyond the middle school years. Research data on cognitive strategy, instructional procedures, cooperative discussion, writing protocols and the effectiveness of the professional development support material will be collected.