Assessment of students’ understanding of physical phenomena through argumentative qualities of written texts

John Henry Durango-Urrego; Walter F. Castro; Manuel Goizueta; Carlos Mario Jaramillo López

doi:10.29333/ejmste/12993

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John Henry Durango-Urrego ¹ ^* , Walter F. Castro ² , Manuel Goizueta ³ , Carlos Mario Jaramillo López ⁴

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¹ Institución Educativa Gilberto Alzate Avendaño; Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, COLOMBIA² Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, COLOMBIA³ Instituto de Matemáticas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, CHILE⁴ Instituto de Matemáticas, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, COLOMBIA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

We present a qualitative study aimed at devising a theoretical-methodological tool to assess students’ conceptual understanding of physical phenomena through the argumentative qualities of their written texts. The proposed relationship between argumentation and understanding is elaborated through the notions of knowledge, purposes, methods, and communicative forms, as well as the use of data, warrants, modal qualifiers, claims, and rhetorical resources. In order to exemplify the tool’s use, the current understanding of six students attending a physics seedbed course was assessed according to four levels: naïve, novice, apprentice, and mastery. We then discuss the possibilities and limitations of the tool and the need to broaden the assessment of students’ understanding to include argumentative tasks in the classroom.

Keywords

teaching of physics
understanding assessment
argumentation
free fall
sound wave propagation

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2023, Volume 19, Issue 3, Article No: em2239

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12993

Publication date: 01 Mar 2023

Online publication date: 25 Feb 2023

Article Views: 1260

Article Downloads: 534

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How to cite this article

APA

Durango-Urrego, J. H., Castro, W. F., Goizueta, M., & Jaramillo López, C. M. (2023). Assessment of students’ understanding of physical phenomena through argumentative qualities of written texts. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 19(3), em2239. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12993

Vancouver

Durango-Urrego JH, Castro WF, Goizueta M, Jaramillo López CM. Assessment of students’ understanding of physical phenomena through argumentative qualities of written texts. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2023;19(3):em2239. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12993

AMA

Durango-Urrego JH, Castro WF, Goizueta M, Jaramillo López CM. Assessment of students’ understanding of physical phenomena through argumentative qualities of written texts. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2023;19(3), em2239. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12993

Chicago

Durango-Urrego, John Henry, Walter F. Castro, Manuel Goizueta, and Carlos Mario Jaramillo López. "Assessment of students’ understanding of physical phenomena through argumentative qualities of written texts". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2023 19 no. 3 (2023): em2239. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12993

Harvard

Durango-Urrego, J. H., Castro, W. F., Goizueta, M., and Jaramillo López, C. M. (2023). Assessment of students’ understanding of physical phenomena through argumentative qualities of written texts. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 19(3), em2239. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12993

MLA

Durango-Urrego, John Henry et al. "Assessment of students’ understanding of physical phenomena through argumentative qualities of written texts". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 19, no. 3, 2023, em2239. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12993