The Effects of Socioscientific Issues Based Instruction on Middle School Students' Argumentation Quality

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine how socioscientific issues (SSI) based instruction affects middle school students’ argumentation quality. In this research, we worked with 25 seventh grade students. A simple experimental design was used in this research. An SSI based unit was designed and these unit activities were applied for 8 weeks. The data of the research is obtained through written argumentation forms. Descriptive analysis, Wilcoxon signed rank test, and effect size values were used to analyze the argumentation components. As a result of the research, it was shown that students improved their argumentation quality significantly. The results obtained from this research demonstrate that SSI based instruction is an effective approach to improve the students’ argumentation quality. Therefore, SSI based instruction can be used to improve the argumentation quality of the students in science lessons.

Keywords: argumentation quality, middle school students, socioscientific issues based instruction