Geographical conflicts involve multiple actors and complex spatial factors, making it difficult to propose a single, definitive solution. To investigate such issues, students must engage in evidence-based critical thinking and logical communication. H...
Geographical conflicts involve multiple actors and complex spatial factors, making it difficult to propose a single, definitive solution. To investigate such issues, students must engage in evidence-based critical thinking and logical communication. However, in actual school settings, argumentative activities are underutilized due to their high cognitive demands and the challenges they pose for classroom management. To address these limitations, recent scholarship in geography education has emphasized the need for instructional approaches that help students justify claims, consider counterarguments, and reason with evidence. In particular, narrative-based approaches that structure the cognitively demanding processes of argumentation into manageable stages have gained increasing attention.
Drawing on this perspective, the present study developed a geography argumentation lesson using the Dramatic Arc narrative structure and empirically examined its educational effects. The study focused on the correspondence between the narrative stages of the Dramatic Arc-exposition, rising action, climax, and resolutionv-and the cognitive structure of argumentative elements. Based on this alignment, a lesson integrating the Dramatic Arc with Toulmin’s Argument Pattern(TAP) was designed and implemented in the high school elective course Exploring the Future of Cities, within the unit “Urban Problems and Spatial Justice.” The lesson addressed urban redevelopment and involved 42 first- and second-year male students attending a general high school in Seoul.
To evaluate it's effectiveness, a mixed-methods research design combining quantitative and qualitative analyses was employed. Quantitatively, students’ pre- and post-instruction argumentative essays were assessed using a rubric to examine structural completeness and logical coherence. Score changes were analyzed with paired-sample t-tests and Cohen’s d effect sizes. Qualitatively, students’ written responses and interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis to explore their perceptions of argumentation and the strategies they employed.
The results indicate that the Dramatic Arc-based argumentation lesson had an overall positive impact on students’ argumentative competence. Quantitatively, total post-test scores increased significantly, with notable improvements in logical connection, backing, and claim strength. In contrast, gains in counterargument construction were comparatively modest, suggesting the need for a more gradual approach to higher-order components of argumentation. Qualitatively, the Dramatic Arc enabled students to experience the lesson as a coherent narrative, fostering emotional engagement and supporting step-by-step reasoning throughout the argumentation process. Students reported utilizing credible spatial information-such as maps, street-view imagery, and public data-to strengthen or revise their positions, and they demonstrated strategic, evidence-based, and metacognitive thinking. The lesson also reshaped their understanding of geography as an inquiry-oriented discipline for analyzing social issues and spatial conflicts.
This study confirms that a narrative approach using the Dramatic Arc is effective for structuring geography argumentation lessons and enhancing students’ argumentative competencies. It offers a concrete and practical instructional model for promoting argumentation in geography education. The findings are expected to broaden the pedagogical possibilities of argumentation in geography and contribute to the design of student-centered, inquiry-based geography instruction.