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1. Epistemic Argumentation Framework

   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29908-8_56  

   Sakama, S ; Son, Tran C ( August 2019 , Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence)

   The paper introduces the notion of an epistemic argumentation framework (EAF) as a means to integrate the beliefs of a reasoner with argumentation. Intuitively, an EAF encodes the beliefs of an agent who reasons about arguments. Formally, an EAF is a pair of an argumentation framework and an epistemic constraint. The semantics of the EAF is defined by the notion of an -epistemic labelling set, where is complete, stable, grounded, or preferred, which is a set of -labellings that collectively satisfies the epistemic constraint of the EAF. The paper shows how EAF can represent different views of reasoners on the same argumentation framework. It also includes representing preferences in EAF and multi-agent argumentation. Finally, the paper discusses the complexity of the problem of determining whether or not an -epistemic labelling set exists. 

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2. Using Critical Integrative Argumentation to Assess Socioscientific Argumentation across Decision-Making Contexts

   https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12100644  

   Sparks, Rachel A. ; Jimenez, P. Citlally ; Kirby, Caitlin K. ; Dauer, Jenny M. ( October 2022 , Education Sciences)

   Socioscientific issues (SSI) are often used to facilitate students’ engagement in multiple scientific practices such as decision-making and argumentation, both of which are goals of STEM literacy, science literacy, and integrated STEM education. Literature often emphasizes scientific argumentation over socioscientific argumentation, which involves considering social factors in addition to scientific frameworks. Analyzing students’ socioscientific arguments may reveal how students construct such arguments and evaluate pedagogical tools supporting these skills. In this study, we examined students’ socioscientific arguments regarding three SSI on pre- and post-assessments in the context of a course emphasizing SSI-based structured decision-making. We employed critical integrative argumentation (CIA) as a theoretical and analytical framework, which integrates arguments and counterarguments with stronger arguments characterized by identifying and refuting counterarguments. We hypothesized that engaging in structured decision-making, in which students integrate multidisciplinary perspectives and consider tradeoffs of various solutions based upon valued criteria, may facilitate students’ development of integrated socioscientific arguments. Findings suggest that students’ arguments vary among SSI contexts and may relate to students’ identities and perspectives regarding the SSI. We conclude that engaging in structured decision-making regarding personally relevant SSI may foster more integrated argumentation skills, which are critical to engaging in information-laden democratic societies. 

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3. Collective Argumentation Learning and Coding

   Foiutz, T. ( June 2022 , ASEE annual conference)

   This project investigates the potential of the Collective Argumentation Learning and Coding (CALC) concept for integrating the teaching of computer coding and other computer science content into the standard practices already used to teach different elementary (grades 3-5) curriculum content. Elementary school teachers significantly influence student motivation to engage in coding and are being asked to provide increased instruction on coding. Unfortunately, few practicing teachers have academic backgrounds in computer coding. This project aims to identify the knowledge needed to transform the CALC concept into a learning practice in which young, novice programmers use the argumentation framework to develop coding sequences. Why? Suppose computer coding is an integral part of teaching mathematics and science subject areas. In that case, the concerns that coding is a distraction to core subjects might decline, and administrative support for teaching coding might increase. We believe this work should be done at the elementary school level, better preparing more students and underrepresented groups for STEM subjects taught in the upper grades 

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4. Epistemic Argumentation Framework: Theory and Computation

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1613/jair.1.12121  

   Sakama, Chiaki ; Son, Tran C. ( December 2020 , Journal of artificial intelligence research)

   null (Ed.)

   The paper introduces the notion of an epistemic argumentation framework (EAF) as a means to integrate the beliefs of a reasoner with argumentation. Intuitively, an EAF encodes the beliefs of an agent who reasons about arguments. Formally, an EAF is a pair of an argumentation framework and an epistemic constraint. The semantics of the EAF is defined by the notion of an ω-epistemic labelling set, where ω is complete, stable, grounded, or preferred, which is a set of ω-labellings that collectively satisfies the epistemic constraint of the EAF. The paper shows how EAF can represent different views of reasoners on the same argumentation framework. It also includes representing preferences in EAF and multi-agent argumentation. Finally, the paper discusses complexity issues and computation using epistemic logic programming. 

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5. Interlinking Logic Programs and Argumentation Frameworks

   Sakama, Chiaki ; Cao Son, Tran ( August 2022 , Lecture notes in computer science)

   Logic programs (LPs) and argumentation frameworks (AFs) are two declarative knowledge representation (KR) formalisms used for different reasoning tasks. The purpose of this study is interlinking two different reasoning components. To this end, we introduce two frameworks: LPAF and AFLP. The former enables to use the result of argumentation in AF for reasoning in LP, while the latter enables to use the result of reasoning in LP for arguing in AF. These frameworks are extended to bidirectional frameworks in which AF and LP can exchange information with each other. We also investigate their connection to several general KR frameworks from the literature. 

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