ARTICLE The Laboratory as a Vehicle for Enhancing Argumentation Among Pre-Service Science Teachers Naim Najami 1 & Muhamad Hugerat 1 & Fattma Kabya 1 & Avi Hofstein 1 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020 Abstract A study was conducted on how scientific laboratory lessons contribute to building arguments, both cognitively and socially. The population consisted of 12 second-year pre-service teachers at a college of education specializing in the teaching of biology and chemistry in middle school. The study examines the nature of the arguments students raise when conducting a laboratory experiment and how conducting an experiment contributes to curricular science teaching in the laboratory. For this purpose, a number of methodologies were used: observa- tions, experiment reports, and statistical analysis. The findings showed that groups conducting an open-ended experiment made more claims in their discourse than did groups that conducted a confirmatory experiment and that the level of argumentation in the open-ended experiment group was higher than in the confirmatory experiment group. Interestingly, despite the significant difference in the level and quantity of arguments in the discourses in the two types of experiments, no significant difference was found regarding the level of argumentation in the two groups’ experiment reports. However, students confirmed the great importance of scien- tific laboratory lessons to the development of argumentative thinking, meaningful learning, and the students’ relationship with their classmates. Keywords Argumentation . Meaningful learning . Higher-order thinking . Pre-service teachers . Science education 1 Introduction The task of the teacher is teaching. Teachers must be prepared to learn about new initiatives by combining different elements with knowledge about the benefits and drawbacks of the teaching process (Jaspers et al. 2014). During the teaching process, teachers gain experience Science & Education https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-020-00107-9 Fattma Kabya is a M.Ed. Student. * Muhamad Hugerat muha4@arabcol.ac.il 1 The Academic Arab College for Education in Israel, 22 Hahashmal St., P.O. Box 8349, 33145 Haifa, Israel