Abstracts - Earli

forum for comparing the similarities and differences in the findings that emerge from the threetheoretical perspectives. The paper emphasizes that the use of more than one theoretical andpractical approach will expand and complement our understanding of teachers’ professionalknowledge in action. It may help us better understand the problems teachers face in their work; thedynamics of educational contexts; and value the impact of different approaches on teachers andstudents.Argumentation in Physics classes focusing on the teacherMarina Castells, Universität de Barcelona, SpainJosep M. Cervero, Universität de Barcelona, SpainThe study we present here focuses on the argumentation teachers use in their explanations ofscientific concepts interacting with students in Physics Education’s classes. The framework isbased on Perelman’s Theory of Argumentation that integrates argumentative elements withrhetorical ones; this theory is complemented with some elements of the Topics and Rhetoric ofAristotle, mainly the topics of his Dialectics and his Rhetoric. We justify the use of this frameworkfor the analysis because it focuses on plausible reasoning and because it considers communicativeaspects, as the consideration and adaptation to the audience (in the form and in the content),integrated with argumentation, that is not formal. We illustrate the analysis done and commentsome of the findings to confirm the adequacy of the chosen theoretical framework. Conclusionsand implications for science education are also commentedThe effect of debate training on argumentative skills: The developmental process of JapaneseCollege studentsMika Nakano, Kyushu University, JapanShun’ichi Maruno, Kyushu University, JapanHow do students acquire argumentative skills by debating? Although this question has long beenattempted to answer in various ways, a common limitation of the previous studies is the tendencyto ignore the potentials of students who learn debating for the first time and those of ESL/EFLdebaters. This presentation aims at proposing a process model of acquiring argumentative skillswhich was brought out by a short-term experiment using a "Parliamentary Debate" formatconducted for Japanese college students. The main points of the findings were: (1) all participantsimproved their argumentative skills, (2) a developmental process of reasoning was found, and (3)the most difficult stage for Japanese learners was revealed. For pedagogical implication, to teachdebate to Japanese students who are especially unwilling to debate, we need to have them realizetheir improvement with confidence by reducing their mental blocks. By discussing theirdevelopmental stages of subordinate skills and argumentative patterns, the future prospects ofargumentative education for Japanese students will be further explored.– 459 –