Exploring the Structure and the Content of Chemistry Teacher's Explanations on Gases unit of ChemistryI from the Perspective of 'Persuasion'

The purpose of this study was to explore the structure and content of chemistry teacher's explanations from the perspective of 'persuasion'. Especially, this study was to explore how the argument structure and the conceptual change constructs in chemistry teachers' explanations were established and interacted. Data were collected from chemistryI classes considering the gas unit which includes kinetic theory of gas, Graham's law, Boyle's law, and Charles' law. The classes were vediotaped and transcribed. The transcriptions were analyzed with Toulmin's argument frame and the two constructs of conceptual change model; the conceptual ecology and the status of a conception to interpret the persuasive structure and content of the teacher's explanations. As the results of this study, four explanatory discourses which show various persuasive explanations in chemistry classes. Based on this results, discussion and implications for effective teachers' explanations in chemistry classes were presented.