Abstract:

In the study, it is aimed to examine the collective arguments of students in the process of constructing a model to calculate the surface area of the solids of revolution in the Calculus I course. The participants of the study, which was designed as a case study, were forty-two students enrolled in Calculus I course in the elementary mathematics teaching department. The data consisted of the video recordings of the argumentation process and the observation notes of the researcher during the construction of the surface area model of the solids of revolution. By analysing the data, Toulmin argumentation schemes containing the components of the argumentation process were created. The findings of the study revealed that the students actively participated in the argumentation process by justifying and refuting each other's claims. In this active participation, the actions of the researcher who conducted the course to support the argumentation process, the students' pre-learning and the norms in the classroom were effective. Data, claim, warrant and rebuttal components emerged from the components of the argumentation process. Particularly, it was a remarkable finding that the students put forward rebuttals by listening to each other's explanations carefully and that these rebuttals were justifications for the subsequent arguments. Another task of the rebuttals was to invalidate not only the claim but also, in some cases, the sub-arguments containing data, claim and justification. In addition, it was understood that the students expressed their justifications with the researcher's questioning in the transition from the data to the claim. In addition to all these, it was seen that the participants did not express backings or qualifiers in the argumentation process.

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