Abstract:

In Rwanda, the national curriculum is increasingly promoting the engagement of students in active learning strategies and scientific inquiry. Related to this goal, the articulation of argumentation in teaching and learning is a significant topic. Argumentation involves the coordination of evidence and theory to support or refute an explanatory conclusion, model or prediction. Despite the research and policy rhetoric, the implementation of argumentation in everyday classrooms remains far from reality. In this project, we drew on evidence from research on professional development on argumentation to develop a pre-service teacher education program in Rwanda. This study was guided by the following key question: what is the impact of a series of workshops about teaching and learning of argumentation on Rwandan pre-service teachers’ perceptions of argumentation? The study was conducted with 25 pre-service teachers who participated in argumentation workshops that aimed to facilitate their understanding of the nature and teaching of scientific argumentation. As argumentation is a form of discourse practice, the participants’ perceptions of the role of language and discourse in learning were also investigated. The results indicate that majority of pre-service teachers had positive perceptions of the use of argumentation in science lessons. Further results on pre-service teachers’ perceptions on argumentation are discussed with implications for teacher education in Rwanda.

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