0000000001284672
AUTHOR
Miika Marttunen
Commenting on Written Arguments as a Part of Argumentation Skills — comparison between students engaged in traditional vs on‐line study
ABSTRACT The use of computer‐mediated communication (CMC) has increased in the area of education. This article reports a study whose aim was to improve the argumentation and scientific thinking skills of university students through argumentative on‐line studying. The research problems dealt on the one hand with learning outcomes in terms of subject content and on the other hand with argumentation skills. The results were compared between on‐line students and students who studied in a traditional way. The results indicated that the traditional group got better learning outcomes than the on‐line students who, by contrast, succeeded better in the tasks of argumentation skills. The findings sug…
Collaborative argumentation through role-play by students on a degree programme in social services
The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of collaborative argumentation by students enrolled in a degree program in social services. Students (n = 29) in a University of Applied Sciences participated in role-play discussions and problem solving on adolescents’ substance abuse. The discussions were conducted either online (15 students) or face-to-face (14 students). The data comprise the students’ asynchronous online and face-to-face discussions, which were analysed by identifying discussion fragments relevant in collaborative argumentation, and by comparing the results of the two groups. The results showed that the face-to-face discussions were more collaborative than the online …
Defending either a personal or an assigned standpoint
Abstract This study clarifies whether a specific type of role play supports upper secondary school students’ collaborative argumentation. Data consist of 12 dyadic face-to-face and 12 chat debates. Data analysis focused on the quality of students’ argumentation. Comparisons were made between students who defended standpoints at variance with their personal opinions on the topics, between the two study modes and topics, and by gender. When the students defended a standpoint differing from their personal opinion, the male students engaged in counterargumentation more often than the female students. When, in turn, the students defended their personal standpoint, they produced both counterargum…
Secondary school students’ collaboration during dyadic debates face-to-face and through computer chat
Communicative competence needed in today's constructive learning environments both in virtual and physical classrooms requires most of all critical and argumentative thinking skills as well as abilities to use reciprocal and collaborative language. This study clarifies the quality of secondary school students' collaboration in dyadic face-to-face and computer chat debates during argumentative discussions. The speech acts produced in 24 debates were first classified into either on-task or off-task categories. The on-task speech acts were then further classified into six collaborative and two non-collaborative categories. The students commonly presented questions and made requests for clarifi…
Visualising knowledge from chat debates in argument diagrams
This study investigates whether combining chat discussion and construction of an argument diagram stimulates students to formulate new ideas in practising argumentation. In this study, 16 secondary school students discussed vivisection and gender equality in pairs using both free and structured chat tools. In structured chat, the students selected and completed partial sentences provided by the computer. After the discussion, they jointly constructed either argument diagrams freely based on the previous discussions with an Internet tool or modified a diagram the computer had constructed automatically during the structured chat. The freely constructed diagrams contained more of the students'…
Sourcing on the internet: Examining the relations among different phases of online inquiry
This study examined students’ engagement in sourcing throughout online inquiry, that is, when they specified the information need, formulated search queries, evaluated online texts, and composed a written product. Participants were 167 upper secondary school students. Students completed an online inquiry task in a restricted online environment that utilized authentic online texts. Students’ prior topic knowledge and reading fluency was measured and controlled for in the analysis. The results showed that students engaged in sourcing even in the earliest phases of online inquiry. A sequential regression analysis indicated that the more frequently students engaged in sourcing in specifying the…
From Online Role-Play to Written Argumentation
This chapter reports on a teaching experiment conducted during a blended learning course in social work in a Finnish university of applied sciences (polytechnic). The aim was to investigate how students’ multidimensional understanding of social problems could be fostered. As argumentative methods, the study used writing tasks, online role-play, and drama work. The data consisted of essays written by 65 students (experimental group 29; controls 36) in each of three phases, plus online discussions. The essays were based on 1) the students’ personal experiences, 2) general facts, and 3) a fictional case taken from the online role-play. Varying the focus of the writing task affected students’ s…
Computer‐based and Face‐to‐face Collaborative Argumentation in Secondary Schools in England and Finland
Abstract This article focuses on the analysis of secondary school students’ argumentative interactions in England and Finland, within specific face‐to‐face and computer‐based environments. We propose that a combination of learning environments, in conjunction with teacher input and support, is important for developing argumentation skills in the classroom. Face‐to‐face argumentation, in particular, offers ample opportunity for concentrating on the quality (through deeper exploration) of arguments; such learning can enhance the construction of well‐structured arguments often associated with some computer‐based environments, such as synchronous computer chat.
Argumentation Course by Electronic Mail
Abstract This article examines the question of whether electronic‐mail (e‐mail) discussions provide university students with an appropriate and profitable environment for practising argumentation and critical thinking skills. An experiment in which 31 undergraduate students and two tutors engaged in argumentative e‐mail discussions is described. The discussions were related to two set books on the sociology of education. The participants’ perceptions of the discussions and of e‐mail as a study method were evaluated by means of a student questionnaire and tutor interviews. Most of the students found that the discussions included a lot of constructive critique, mutual encouragement and constr…
Argumentation in Secondary School Students' Structured and Unstructured Chat Discussions
Joint construction of new knowledge demands that persons can express their statements in a convincing way and explore other people's arguments constructively. For this reason, more knowledge on different means to support collaborative argumentation is needed. This study clarifies whether structured interaction supports students' critical and elaborative argumentation. The study compares the quality of secondary school students' argumentation during structured and unstructured chat interaction. The data consist of 16 dyadic chat discussions: 8 discussions concerned vivisection and 8 gender equality. Half of the discussions were carried out through structured chat, and the other half through…
Argumentation Skills as Prerequisites for Collaborative Learning Among Finnish, French and English Secondary School Students.
International audience; Argumentation skills of secondary school students were evaluated in Finland (n = 290), France (n = 54), and England (n = 41). The data were collected from 4 tasks comprising 7 variables. The results indicated that most of the students had correctly justified arguments and conclusions, and composed clear claims and relevant arguments. However, many students had difficulties in recognising the main claim and arguments for it in an expository text, and in commenting analytically on an argumentative text. Thus the students possessed the prerequisites for argumentative reasoning and writing but need further practice in analytical and critical reading.
Online Learning Environments, Scientific Argumentation, and 21st Century Skills
A workshop held at the National Academies in the United States in 2007 highlighted five broad categories of skills that appear valuable across a range of jobs for people working in modern global economies. Engaging students in scientific argumentation can support the development of these 21st century skills. Unfortunately, opportunities are rare in typical classrooms for students to learn how to engage in scientific argumentation. Over the past ten years several online environments have been developed to support students engaging with one another in scientific argumentation. This paper considers how engaging students in scientific argumentation through the activity structures and scripts in…
Students evaluating Internet sources – From versatile evaluators to uncritical readers
The Internet is a significant information resource for students due to the ease of access it allows to a vast amount of information. As the quality of the information on the Internet varies, it is important that students are able to evaluate such information critically. The aim of the study was to investigate how students evaluate Internet sources in an authentic learning task. Upper secondary school students ( n = 25) were asked to look for source material on the Internet in order to write an essay. They were asked to verbalize their thoughts during the material gathering process. Their verbalizations and actions on the Internet were recorded and analyzed. The five evaluation profiles eme…
Sähköpostin avulla perustelevaan keskusteluun?
Vuorovaikutus muiden ihmisten kanssa edistää argumentointitaitojen ja kriittisen ajattelun kehittymistä. Entä kun vuorovaikutus tapahtuu sähköpostin avulla? – Kirjoittaja väitteli kasvatustieteiden tohtoriksi 7.6.1997 Jyväskylän yliopistossa. Väitöskirjan aiheena oli Studying argumentation in higher education by electronic mail.
Collaborative Learning Through Chat Discussions and Argument Diagrams in Secondary School
AbstractThis study clarifies whether secondary school students develop their argumentation skills through reading and collaboration. The students first constructed an individual argument diagram on genetically modified organisms, read three articles, and improved their diagrams. Next, they engaged in a chat debate, reflected on their debate by constructing a collaborative argument diagram on it, and finally finished their individual diagrams. The analyses compared the diagrams students finished after the debate and reflection with the diagrams they constructed before the debate. Collaboration not only encouraged students to elaborate their previous arguments but also helped them to recall a…
Electronic Mail as a Forum for Argumentative Interaction in Higher Education Studies
This article reports a study in which thirty-one undergraduate students practiced academic argumentation by electronic mail (e-mail). In the two “tutorled” e-mail study groups the discussion topics were selected by the tutor, while in the two self-directed “student-led” groups selection was by the students. The quantity and quality of student-student interaction, and the factors associated with this were investigated. The results indicated that 42 percent of the students' messages (n = 441) were interactive in nature, indicating at least one reference to fellow students' messages. When difficult contents were addressed, interaction in the tutor-led groups was more common than in the studen…
Skillful Internet Reader is Metacognitively Competent
The purpose of this study was to investigate the interrelations between information searching, textprocessing, information evaluation, and metacognition when upper-secondary school students are using Internet as a source for an essay. Students (n = 24) were asked to search for source material from the Internet in order to write an essay on a given topic. They were asked to verbalize their thoughts while they were gathering their source material. Their verbalizations and actions were recorded and analyzed. The results indicated that students who had difficulties in locating relevant information had to monitor their orientation and keep track of what to do next. Skillful students, in contrast…
Written arguments and collaborative speech acts in practising the argumentative power of language through chat debates
Abstract This study deals with the quality of argumentation and collaboration in students’ chat debates. The argumentative interaction between students is analysed by categorising their speech turns into seven functional categories. The argumentative task-related parts of the students’ discussions are further analysed into collaborative and non-collaborative speech acts. Argumentation patterns are revealed when the results of both analyses are combined with observations on the students’ writing styles. Students ( n = 24) participated in 12 dyadic debates concerning either nuclear power (NP) or genetically modified organisms (GMO). We found that the majority (67.2%) of the speech turns in N…
Coordinating collaborative writing in an online environment
This study investigated how university students (n = 28) coordinated their collaborative online writing and what kinds of coordination profiles were found among the students. Further, the study examined the quality of the essays produced by groups of students varying in their combinations of coordination profiles. Students’ written comments on their writing processes (n = 583) were divided into episodes focusing on coordination. Eight different categories of collaborative activities during online collaboration were found. The students’ joint essays (n = 9) were evaluated as high, moderate and low according to the number of topics, key concepts, and integration of Internet sources in the ess…
Exploring early adolescents’ evaluation of academic and commercial online resources related to health
This study assessed the ability of 426 students (ages 12–13) to critically evaluate two types of online locations on health issues: an academic resource and a commercial resource. The results indicated limited evaluation abilities, especially for the commercial resource, and only a small, partial association with prior stance and offline reading ability. Only about half (51.4%) of the students questioned the credibility of the commercial online resource and only about 19% of the students showed an ability to fully recognize commercial bias. Wide variation existed in students’ ability to evaluate online information, as approximately one-fourth of the students performed poorly when evaluating…
Teaching Argumentation Skills in an Electronic Mail Environment
SUMMARY This paper discusses the qualities of computer‐mediated communication (CMC) relevant to the teaching of argumentation skills. It describes an electronic mail (e‐mail) study experiment carried out in an MEd level course in education. The aim of the experiment was to explore the possibility of using CMC to promote the argumentation skills of university students. The experiment (n = 31) was based on a comparison of tutor‐led seminar mode (2 groups) with a student‐led discussion mode (2 groups) using an e‐mail study. The students practised argumentation during a six‐week e‐mail study period. The comparison group (n = 193) engaged in a traditional self‐study. All the students’ argumentat…
Students’ Interpretations of a Persuasive Multimodal Video About Vaccines
The present study investigated students’ (N = 404) interpretations of the main message and use of modes in a persuasive multimodal video on vaccines. It also examined whether students’ topic knowledge, language arts grades, and self-identified gender were associated with their interpretations. Students analyzed a YouTube video in which two entertainers demonstrated the importance of vaccinating children. Students’ interpretations of the usefulness of vaccines varied in terms of quality of reasoning, which was associated with students’ topic knowledge. Notably, many students’ interpretations of the use of modes were incomplete, or they did not even mention certain modes in their response. Th…
Working on understanding during collaborative online reading
This study examines how students in Finland (16-18 years of age) constructed meaning and knowledge in a collaborative online reading situation. Student pairs ( n = 19) were asked to write a joint essay on a controversial issue. First, the pairs discussed the topic freely to activate their prior knowledge. Next, they gathered source material on the Internet. Finally, they composed a joint essay. The data were collected using an interaction approach to verbal protocol data, along with video screen captures. In the analysis, three units were employed: episodes ( n = 562) for describing online reading practices; utterances ( n = 944) for identifying collaborative reading strategies; and collab…
University Students´ Knowledge Construction during Face to Face Collaborative Writing
Collaborative writing combines social processes of writing with cognitive knowledge construction processes, and thus may lead to deeper learning than individual working. This study examined students’ knowledge construction during face-to-face collaborative writing. University students (n = 21) prepared themselves for the collaborative task by reading about developmental theories in a course book and writing individual summaries of them. In small groups, the students discussed each others’ summaries and wrote a joint essay on one of the theories. The data comprise the students’ individual summaries (n = 21), the students’ discussions during the essay writing (8177 speech turns), and the stud…
Online and face-to-face role-play simulations in promoting social work students’ argumentative problem-solving
This paper reports on a teaching experiment in which social work students (n=38) practiced problem solving through argumentative tasks. A teaching experiment was carried out at a Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences in Finland in connection with a course concerning preventative work against alcohol- and drug abuse. This quasiexperimental study investigated whether role-play simulation conducted either online (15 students) or face-to-face (14 students) improved students’ problem solving on social issues. As a pre-test, the students wrote an essay after having watched a dramatization of problematic cases on elderly people’s use of alcohol. The students also attended lectures (30 x 45 min) o…
Visualising knowledge from chat debates in argument diagrams
This study investigates whether combining chat discussion and construction of an argument diagram stimulates students to formulate new ideas in practising argumentation. In this study, 16 secondary school students discussed vivisection and gender equality in pairs using both free and structured chat tools. In structured chat, the students selected and completed partial sentences provided by the computer. After the discussion, they jointly constructed either argument diagrams freely based on the previous discussions with an Internet tool or modified a diagram the computer had constructed automatically during the structured chat. The freely constructed diagrams contained more of the students'…