Various hands-on and mind-on activities motivate students towards the learning process, and to ensure that they understand, teachers concentrate on their responses during discussion sessions. Therefore, teachers utilize enough classroom teaching time for student discussion sessions and focus on quality thinking, which transforms these discussion sessions to initiate knowledge construction (Watkins, Carnell, Lodge, Wagner, and Whalley, 2002). However, in the current secular and religious educational systems, classroom teaching and learning place more emphasis on knowledge production during examinations than on the quality of discussion processes in the classrooms. A constructive classroom discussion creates a conducive learning environment where teachers act as scaffolds for developing students' cognitive levels. As a result, in a traditional teacher-centered classroom setting, pupils rely on their teacher's instructions to complete assigned tasks. Helterbran (2007) acknowledges this issue in the current education system and suggests that enhancing students thinking skills develops them into critical thinkers. A classroom teaching environment that encourages students to participate in class discussions allows them to question their assumptions and those of their peers and teachers and enables them to defend their own beliefs (Toulmin, 1958). Less research was collected where science subject teachers involved students in critical discourse and used evidence from religious documents, and vice versa. However, educators from science and religion disciplines can incorporate an argumentative inquiry method into their pedagogies to foster critical discussion in the teaching and learning processes in the classroom. Thus, interdisciplinary approach while designing instructions allow students to make judgments using evidence from both subjects.

Authors:
Bilquis Hamid, Ismaili Muslims Charitable Trust, Uganda

About the Presenter(s)
Bilquis is a STEP teacher currently serving at the Ismaili Muslims Charitable Trust, Kampala Uganda.
In a volunteer capacity, she has served as a PGPP at the IIS London in 2020. She has also worked as a consultant at Premier DLC Pakistan.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bilquis-hamid-/

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