Abstract
This article focuses on the analysis of secondary school students’ argumentative interactions in England and Finland, within specific face‐to‐face and computer‐based environments. We propose that a combination of learning environments, in conjunction with teacher input and support, is important for developing argumentation skills in the classroom. Face‐to‐face argumentation, in particular, offers ample opportunity for concentrating on the quality (through deeper exploration) of arguments; such learning can enhance the construction of well‐structured arguments often associated with some computer‐based environments, such as synchronous computer chat.
Notes
1. The research reported here was carried out within the SCALE project (Internet‐based Intelligent Tool to Support Collaborative Argumentation‐based Learning in Secondary Schools, March 2001–February 2004) funded by the European Community under the ‘Information Societies Technology’ Programme. Information on the project can be found at http://www.euroscale.net/ (accessed January 2004)
2. In the case of England, each pair of students consisted of two persons arguing together against another pair of two persons. In the Finnish studies, pairs during the debate phase consisted of one person arguing against another. This difference needs to be taken into consideration when looking at the results of analysis comparatively.
3. Students gave permission for their real names to be used.