INVESTIGATION OF ARGUMENTATION LEVELS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON SOCIO-SCIENTIFIC ISSUES THROUGH BLOGS

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the argumentation levels of the 6th grade students in the classroom with the help of in-class blog applications on socio-scientific issues. The study was carried out with the participation of 23 6th grade students attending a secondary school in Yenişehir,Mersin in the spring term of 2017-2018 academic year. The method of the study is a single case study which is one of the patterns of qualitative research methodology. Socio-scientific scenarios, open-ended questions in the classroom and semi-structured interview questions were directed to the students during the application and data collection process, which lasted a total of 7 weeks. The data obtained from data collection techniques in the study were evaluated by qualitative data analysis. The levels of arguments obtained from the blog and in-class discussions were determined by the informal reasoning assessment approach. According to the results of the research, there was an increase in the argument levels of the students. In addition, it was determined that classroom discussions and blogs were effective in changing students' opinions about socioscientific scenarios, the resources given in the study were sufficient and students gained new information as a result of the discussions.