Elements of design for studying argumentation: the case of two on-going research lines

The aim of this paper is to present some ideas in order to construct designs for studying argumentation. Our specific focus is on learning processes involving peer interactions and adult-children activities. We consider argumentation as a context-bounded activity, at the crossroads of different lines of research, such as the neo-piagetian and neo-vygotskian concerns for the socio-cognitive development of higher psychological processes, and the socio-cultural approach of participative interactions within goal-directed activities. In this paper we offer some elements to implement designs around two on-going research lines in order to pay attention to quasi-experimental and observational studies. Firstly we present the task of liquid conservation assuming that a revisitation of this classical study could offer a possibility to consider the argumentation in children’s talk beyond Piaget’s logicism. The second line concerns an educational situation designed to observe learning through argumentation in classroom contexts; inspired by a piagetian task for studying physics quantities, a sequence is planned to offer students an educational setting to commit into argumentative interactions.

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