Argumentation, Geography Education and ICT

Argumentation is increasingly being used in educational discourse in the United Kingdom. Geographical education has recently started to engage with this field to explore its potential as a pedagogical tool to increase learners' capabilities to think both individually and collaboratively. This article outlines the theoretical background of argumentation, its relevance to thinking skills and real-world issues explored in geography, including themes relating to sustainability and global citizenship. It also presents recent developments in ICT which are facilitating the argumentation process in terms of both visualisation of the outcomes of argumentation — argument maps — and supporting collaborations between several people both synchronously and asynchronously. The DUNES system is presented as one example of a computer supported argumentation visualisation (CSAV) software package. Some indications are given as to how a more specifically geographical type of argument map (which combines conceptual and spatial material) is starting to develop.