Abstract
Over the last few decades, it has become a staple of reform‐based science education that teachers promote student argumentation in the classroom. As researchers continue to evaluate ways in which teachers create productive environments for argumentation, a recent trend in the field has focused on how they manage student doubt. When teachers adopt instructional practices that align with contemporary standards, a more diverse range of instructional aims should be considered. Recent studies have focused on teachers raising, maintaining and reducing doubt throughout their lessons (Chen et al, 2019; Chen & Jordan, 2024; Starrett, 2024). In this study, we set out to trace the relationship between teachers’ doubt management during lessons of student‐led argumentation and how those 8‐9 year‐old students select evidence. The findings suggest that primary‐aged students who had a teacher with a reform‐based orientation were better at selecting claims that had empirical evidence. Students taught by a teacher with a more traditional approach (i.e. direct instruction) were more likely to ignore the empirical evidence and select misconceptions with plausible mechanisms.