Multiple languages and mathematics in the process of argumentation in a physics class: Analysis of data from an Inquiry Laboratory

We analyzed within the framework of Stephen Toulmin (2006), the process of argument started by a teacher, to build the mathematical language as a way of interpreting data from an inquiry lab about heating water. The activity was part of a inquiry teaching class that was applied in the first year of high school, at a public school in the State of S o Paulo. The cooperative use of several languages was important to strengthen the various elements of the argument, while the mathematical languages such as graphical and algebraic had the role of guarantees and refuted the conclusions, giving strength to the latter.