Developing Primary School Students' Abilities to Evaluate the Evidence of Written Scientific Arguments.

The engagement of students in processes for evaluating scientific arguments is particularly important for science education of all students. Research studying students' abilities to evaluate scientific arguments based on their evidence is limited. The present paper investigates the impact of a teaching sequence for temperature and heat, which is based on the teaching science-as-practice approach, on primary school students' abilities to evaluate the evidence of the written scientific arguments they read. The instructional material developed was implemented to 262 students aged 12 years. A questionnaire was developed and completed by the students before and after the implementation of the teaching–learning sequence. The data analysis showed that the teaching sequence significantly contributed to improving students' abilities to locate evidence in arguments, identify relevant supporting evidence that should be included in arguments, evaluate whether a piece of evidence is strong or weak, and compare and evaluate two arguments according to the evidence they include. This study provides preliminary evidence that a teaching sequence which is based on the teaching science-as-practice approach may be effective for increasing primary school students' abilities to evaluate the evidence of scientific arguments. The results of this study and their implications for both research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]