{"title":"Examining myside bias on a controversial historical event after engagement in dialogic argumentation: Insights from a think aloud study","authors":"Kalypso Iordanou , Constantina Fotiou , Athina Manoli , Michalinos Zembylas","doi":"10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102209","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The main objective of this exploratory study was to examine students' reasoning – particularly myside bias – on a controversial historical event using rich think aloud data, before and after being engaged in extensive dialogic argumentation on a non-historical topic. Elementary school students engaged in a nine-session argument-based intervention. For 30 students — a subset of the 116 participants who engaged in the intervention and who constitute the focus of this study — myside bias was assessed before and after their engagement in the intervention, using the think-aloud methodology. Students were asked to read two accounts about a recent war in their country—an own-side account from a historian of their ethnic group and an other-side account from a historian of the adversary ethnic group—and to think aloud. The analysis of the think-aloud protocols shows that participants responded differently when reading the own-side account vs. the other-side one. In particular, participants expressed significantly more statements that supported the other-side when reading the other-side's account than when reading their own-side's account. This shows that engaging with the other-side account, as revealed by the think-aloud process, can promote a deeper understanding of the other side. Moreover, they made more evaluative comments post-assessment than pre-assessment. However, their evaluative comments were still in favor of their own position, which shows how resilient myside bias is to change. Overall, our findings suggest that the think-aloud methodology is a valuable tool for identifying (changes in) myside bias and the conditions that facilitate it.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48357,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Instruction","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 102209"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Learning and Instruction","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959475225001331","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The main objective of this exploratory study was to examine students' reasoning – particularly myside bias – on a controversial historical event using rich think aloud data, before and after being engaged in extensive dialogic argumentation on a non-historical topic. Elementary school students engaged in a nine-session argument-based intervention. For 30 students — a subset of the 116 participants who engaged in the intervention and who constitute the focus of this study — myside bias was assessed before and after their engagement in the intervention, using the think-aloud methodology. Students were asked to read two accounts about a recent war in their country—an own-side account from a historian of their ethnic group and an other-side account from a historian of the adversary ethnic group—and to think aloud. The analysis of the think-aloud protocols shows that participants responded differently when reading the own-side account vs. the other-side one. In particular, participants expressed significantly more statements that supported the other-side when reading the other-side's account than when reading their own-side's account. This shows that engaging with the other-side account, as revealed by the think-aloud process, can promote a deeper understanding of the other side. Moreover, they made more evaluative comments post-assessment than pre-assessment. However, their evaluative comments were still in favor of their own position, which shows how resilient myside bias is to change. Overall, our findings suggest that the think-aloud methodology is a valuable tool for identifying (changes in) myside bias and the conditions that facilitate it.
期刊介绍:
As an international, multi-disciplinary, peer-refereed journal, Learning and Instruction provides a platform for the publication of the most advanced scientific research in the areas of learning, development, instruction and teaching. The journal welcomes original empirical investigations. The papers may represent a variety of theoretical perspectives and different methodological approaches. They may refer to any age level, from infants to adults and to a diversity of learning and instructional settings, from laboratory experiments to field studies. The major criteria in the review and the selection process concern the significance of the contribution to the area of learning and instruction, and the rigor of the study.