Project resources for teachers and students
Lesson guidelines for teachers and activities for students have been produced by the project to support the teaching and learning …
OUR BIG QUESTION
Lesson guidelines for teachers and activities for students have been produced by the project to support the teaching and learning …
International Journal of Science Education Wonyong Park, Sibel Erduran and Liam Guilfoyle Abstract Argumentation is widely recognised as a core …
Research in Science Education Jessica Chan & Sibel Erduran Abstract Teachers’ understanding and teaching of argumentation is gaining more attention …
Journal of Religious Education Nigel Fancourt & Liam Guilfoyle Abstract The importance of developing students’ argumentation skills is well established …
Teachers and pupils often face difficult judgments that demand understanding of various kinds of information, opinion, values and ethical principles, and understanding of different processes of argumentation, deliberation and debate.
For example, in the context of biology lessons pupils might question whether or not genes should be cloned or edited, appealing not only to scientific knowledge but also to religious and ethical values. Many complex everyday problems thus require interdisciplinary conversations in order for teachers and pupils to make judgements about a whole range of issues that have both scientific and religious undertones. Such interdisciplinary conversations often resort to exchanges of claims and reasons about particular issues such as genetic cloning and end of life phenomena. The justification of claims with reasons is typically defined as ‘argumentation’.
The aim of OARS (Oxford Argumentation in Religion and Science) project is to understand how argumentation works in science and religion, both in terms of the nature and development of arguments, and also in terms of how the teaching and learning of argumentation can be supported in science and religious education.
Institutional Affiliation
The OARS Project is based at the Oxford University Department of Education.
Oxford has been making a major contribution to the field of education for over 100 years and today this department has a world-class reputation for research, for teacher education and for its Masters and doctoral programmes. Our aim is to continue to be a world-leader in cross-disciplinary education research that is closely connected with policy and practice.
To stay up to date with the activities of the Department, join our mailing list by clicking here, or visit the department website by clicking here.
We are always interested to hear from others if you have a comment, question, or suggestion. If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to contact us using the form below.
FOR PARTICIPATING TEACHERS
Click here to access our collaborative learning space on Edmodo. The purpose of this space is for teachers participating in the OARS project to have an on-going collaborative environment to communicate with others on the project, to share ideas and resources, and to think collectively.