Reading a fictional storybook in a primary science lesson : narrative reasons and scientific reasons

Abstract

This communication fits into the theoretical framework of scientific literacy, which acknowledges argumentation and narrative as a core of 'epistemic practice' of science class. In this paper we propose to study the extent to which a collective discussion about the interpretation of a 'realistic fiction' storybook in science lesson can be a way to engage young pupils in argumentation. We show that the quality of the directed interaction comes from the form of the teacher's interventions and that the identification of the relevant narrative data embedded in the story allows the pupils to mobilize scientific reasons in order to interpret it.