Argumentation: Embedding claim, evidence, and reasoning into your classroom

This is a thesis project aimed at creating an elementary science unit. The purpose for creating this unit was so that elementary teachers who are normally not comfortable with science content can carry out a unit that implements science processes, such as argumentation, without apprehension. The use of science notebooks is included to help students construct arguments through the collection of data. The unit starts off with process lessons for introducing the process of argumentation. It is my hope that teachers will be able to take the process lessons I have created and insert it into any science unit they teach. I have attached some content lessons adapted from FOSS in order to highlight how I would embed the elements of argumentation in an already established curriculum that might be used by a school district. The unit was reviewed by three teachers in the field and then revised to include their suggestions.