Sensemaking as a goal of science education, abduction as a process of scientific sensemaking

Abstract Current science education reform efforts have identified sensemaking as an important goal of science education, and science education researchers have studied what constitutes the sensemaking process in the science classroom. Because the studies of sensemaking are loosely linked to those of scientific reasoning, however, they have provided little practical insight into how students can make scientific sense, rather than any sense, of natural phenomena. Therefore, in this position paper, we discuss the close relationship between sensemaking and abduction. Sensemaking refers to a prolonged process of resolving a gap or inconsistency in current knowledge and understanding by constructing an explanation of a phenomenon. Abduction is a form of scientific reasoning to generate explanatory hypotheses about the evidence embedded in a phenomenon based on available resources. Abduction can play a crucial role in sensemaking by providing a mechanism for generating a plausible explanation of a target phenomenon and should be adapted for science teaching and learning for students' sensemaking through engagement in science practices. In particular, to develop scientific sensemaking in students, the teacher should help students identify critical evidence, provide students with critical resources, and encourage students to use the method of multiple working hypotheses, so that the students can construct scientifically sound and valid explanations of natural phenomena. It is suggested that further research explore and collect exemplary cases of science teachers effectively supporting students to achieve scientific sensemaking through abduction.