Abstracts - Earli

synchronous discussions are gradually represented and can be reflected on. For the enhancing ofenquiry, “Microworlds” are designed and tailored for specific uses, and allow students to change,for example, the initial conditions of a physical phenomenon, isolate a specific factor and see howit influences a certain physical procedure. In that sense, students experiment to define the physicallaws that dominate phenomena. They can use trial and error methods to examine “what willhappen if…”situations, and they can transform the environment “so that … will happen”, etc. Inthis way students can test their hypotheses and discuss the most viable one. The participants in thissymposium have all designed and developed a number of suitable educational cases. Each of theparticipants will focus on different issues concerning experimentation and learning processes.Critical factors for productive processes of enquiry based dialogsBaruch Schwarz, the Hebrew University, IsraelHaim Penso, the Hebrew University, IsraelYaron Schur, the Hebrew University, IsraelFostering concept learning in science education is a very difficult endeavor. The models proposed(e.g., the cognitive conflict paradigm) lead to dubious results if educators confine their efforts to apure cognitive perspective (e.g., bringing anomalous data). We present here the idea that led to theelaboration of the ESCALATE project that provides a rich environment for fostering conceptlearning in science education. The implementation of activities in school led to successes andfailures, as it happens in research design. We capitalized on this experience to redesign theenvironments and to identify critical factors for productive processes of enquiry based dialogs.Evaluating students’ argumentation as they use Digalo in scienceSue Johnson, University of London, United KingdomShirley Simon, University of London, United KingdomThis paper reports on the use of the graphical tool, Digalo, which enables students’ argumentativediscussions on scientific issues to be represented, reflected upon and evaluated by teachers andstudents. The research focuses on the use of evaluative tools to analyse the process ofargumentation and its outcomes, through examining argumentation as students engage in oraldiscussion and the argumentative maps created through sessions on Digalo. The research also aimsto find ways of sharing the process of evaluation with teachers and students, and to examine howthey conduct their own evaluations. The outcomes of the research will inform the pedagogy ofargumentation in science and enhance our understanding of the potential of using e-learningenvironments in promoting students’ epistemic understanding.Intuitive ideas and scientific explanations as part of elementary children’s developingunderstanding in astronomy: the case of the seasonsValerie Tartas, University of Toulouse 2, FranceValerie Frede, University of Toulouse 2, FranceThe present research relies on a developmental study in a socio-cultural perspective where thepupils (in grade 3 and in grade 5 in the elementary school) are invited by their teacher to answerthe following question: why are there seasons? The situated activity in school is studied rather thanthe children’s answers to a questionnaire as frequently used in developmental psychology (forexample, Vosniadou & Brewer, 1994). In order to allow the pupils to explain in a scientific waysuch a phenomenon, the teachers have developed different phased activities where the toolsproposed and the social configurations of activity vary. In these different phases, two specific– 298 –