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Applying Toulmin's Argumentation Framework To Explanations In A Reform Oriented Mathematics Class, Jennifer Alder Brinkerhoff

Theses and Dissertations

This study looks at conceptual explanations given in a reform-oriented mathematics class for preservice secondary mathematics teachers and extends Toulmin's argumentation framework to account for some of the complexities of the explanations given by these students. This study explains the complexities that arose in applying Toulmin's framework to explanations and extends the framework by accounting for the features of conceptual explanations. The complexities of these explanations are that they are made up of multiple arguments that build on each other to reach a final conclusion and that they are also dependant upon the social aspects of the class in which …