Examining the complex nature of learning environments and interdependence of language, argument and dialogic interactions

One of the major goals of science education is to prepare students as scientifically literate individuals. The reasons for failing to achieve this goal is that students do not have sufficient “opportunities to experience how science is actually done”. In natural environment of scientist, they use all forms of language (representations), having argument with their colleagues as written and verbal, and communicate with others in a dialogue more than monolog. As such, science learning environments should promote both the learning and use of these practices, in particular of language, argumentation and dialogic interactions, in order to provide authentic experiences for students of how science is done and to maximize science learning. In current research, language, argument, and dialogic interactions are examined as separate independent entities; however, argumentation and dialogic interactions still are not typical features within today’s science classrooms and the role of language in science learning is under-researched in science learning environments. To understand the whole and maximize science learning, there is a need to understand each separate component and develop a holistic understanding of argument, language, and dialogic interactions. For this purpose, first, I reviewed the literature related to each epistemic tool as a separate entity, and then address the interdependency between them with an example scenario. Secondly, I examined (i)growth in students’ competencies in language, argument, and content during one semester, with a comparison of two learning environments using students’ lab reports, and (ii)interdependence between these growth patterns.