Workshop 2 was designed to build on the initial scoping conducted Workshop 1. This first session had drawn out teachers own ideas on argumentation, brought their teachers’ attention towards the curriculum and possible activities, and asked teachers to begin to tease out their initial ideas about the similarities and differences between conceptions of argumentation in science and RE. The second session began where the last session left off – thinking about activities that address argumentation in their own science and RE lessons, and the differences/similarities between these activities.
The project team presented some direct input on argumentation; exploring structures of argumentation and theoretical ideas about argumentation. The team also presented some ideas about potential differences and similarities that were emerging from the research work of the project team. Interspersed with these inputs where group activities that revisited teachers’ perspectives on the differences and similarities.
Having explored argumentation in some depth over two sessions, and considering activities from their own practice that addresses argumentation, the teachers were asked to think about various ways they could collaborate in their pairs. It is important to recognise that teachers are coming from a range of contexts and no single ‘intervention’ process would be suitable. Teachers were asked to think about how they could feasibly introduce these ideas into their classroom practice, and how they could feasibly work with their colleague to collaborate on the cross-curricular teaching of argumentation.
The project team modelled an example of one such possibility for collaboration by providing an activity that was developed to integrate RE and science.
The session concluded by sketching out how we might all continue to work together and the practical considerations that needed to be accounted for in doing so.