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Article
Concept of Evidence and the Quality of Evidence-Based Reasoning in Elementary Students
Topoi (2019)
  • Andrea Miralda-Banda, University of Barcelona
  • Merce Garcia-Mila, University of Barcelona
  • Mark K. Felton, San Jose State University
Abstract
The present study has two goals: to explore elementary students’ understanding of evidence and the ways they deploy it to construct arguments, and to examine whether eliciting their concept of evidence during argumentation improves students’ evidence-based reasoning. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 4th and 6th graders (N = 66) in a public school in Mexico. We found significant differences between groups regarding the concept of evidence, with better performance in the older group. A positive correlation between the concept of evidence and the quality of evidence-based reasoning was found. Also, three performance profiles were observed after eliciting the concept of evidence when grade was excluded as a factor. Results suggest that the concept of evidence plays an essential role in developing argumentative competence in pre-adolescence.
Keywords
  • Concept of evidence,
  • Argumentation quality,
  • Elementary school,
  • Evidence-based reasoning,
  • Evidence generation,
  • Evidence quality
Publication Date
November 27, 2019
DOI
10.1007/s11245-019-09685-y
Publisher Statement
SJSU users: Use the following link to login and access the article via SJSU databases.
Citation Information
Andrea Miralda-Banda, Merce Garcia-Mila and Mark K. Felton. "Concept of Evidence and the Quality of Evidence-Based Reasoning in Elementary Students" Topoi (2019) ISSN: 01677411
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mark-felton/52/