In this paper we analyze the roles of simulated juries and their contributions for discourse production and for the participants' learning in two classes of a pre-service physics teacher methods course. These classes comprised two simulated juries about a Brazilian contemporary socio-scientific question: the problem of irregular electric connections (known as "cats") in the residencies and commerce. The analyses evinced how the simulated juries afforded the construction of diverse and elaborated arguments and counter-arguments. We discuss how the interchange of the participants' roles contributed to the production of quality arguments and to the participants' processes of "decentralization", that is, the possibility to put themselves in the other's perspective. We argue that such processes relate to the scaffold postures whose uses in teacher education can help the future teachers recognize the importance of the uses of more dialogue and argumentation approaches in science teaching.
Argumentation; Simulated jury; Teacher education.
