Between science and society: Argumentation on socio-scientific issues in the special exhibition “ZUGvögel”
Through the exhibition *ZUGvögel*, pupils from a partner school in Berlin are learning how to present scientific arguments on socially relevant issues – with academic support from the museum.
The aim of the project is to introduce Year 9 pupils at our partner school, the Hagenbeck School, to the art of argumentation and to provide academic guidance throughout this process.
To this end, the pupils are presented with three scenarios at the interface between society, politics and science (so-called socio-scientific issues), which can be found in the special exhibition ‘ZUGvögel’. They are asked to analyse these using data and to develop arguments from the various perspectives.
Existing concepts held by the pupils are identified using concept maps, and the processes involved in learning to argue are recorded and analysed in individual interviews.
The results make a valuable contribution to educational research on science learning in museums.
Collaboration partners
The project is being carried out in collaboration with Prof. Orit Ben-Zvi Assaraf from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.