Examination of student opinions on socioscientific issues in the 6th, 7th and 8th grade science curriculum by grade level

The aim of this research is to determine students' attitudes and opinions towards socio-scientific issues in science textbooks using dilemma cards, while also examining their argumentation skills and argumentation perceptions for these issues that require discussion and reasoning. In line with this study, a total of 102 students were studied in a private personal development course in Edirne. 34 students from each of the 6th, 7th and 8th grades participated in the study. Participants were selected by non-random sampling method. The study was implemented in a total of 2 semesters, one academic year. After all the students first filled out the attitude scale towards socioscientific issues, which consists of 30 questions, the pretest results of the students on socioscientific issues were examined. Since socioscientific issues are controversial issues that require students to make decisions, decision-making skills were also examined. In this regard, first of all, all students participating in the study were asked to fill out the two-part "Argumentation Perceptions Test", which includes open-ended and multiple-choice questions, and their perspectives on argumentation were observed. Each class group participating in the practice throughout the year expressed their opinions on the subject with dilemma cards in which they chose the most appropriate answer after the story about the socioscientific topic covered. A total of 9 socioscientific topics included in the 6th, 7th and 8th grade science textbooks were included in the study. After the completed dilemma cards, "Argumentation Forms" were distributed and students' argumentation skills on existing socioscientific issues were also examined. After individual examination, argumentation skills between classes were also revealed with tables. Study data were analyzed with two different methods: quantitative and qualitative. The attitude scale towards socioscientific issues was distributed in each class group before and after the topic was explained, and the data were analyzed as pretest-posttest with the SPSS program. According to the results, while there was a positive difference between the students' individual attitudes, no significant difference was found between the groups. It has been determined that the attitudes of the majority of students towards socioscientific issues have increased in line with the studies. At the same time, it was also obtained as a result of the study data that the majority of defended similar views on socioscientific issues in the dilemma cards. This showed that students' grade level did not significantly change their views on common socioscientific issues. It has been obtained from the study data that students have a positive approach to vital issues such as blood donation and organ donation. Based on this, it has been determined that 8th grade students are quite undecided on issues such as cloning and nuclear power plants. When the distributed argumentation forms were examined, it was observed that students, regardless of class, were more competent in making claims and rebuttals, but were inadequate in providing support and evidence. As a result, introducing the concept of argumentation to students from early grades will contribute to argumentation-based education in order to develop argumentation skills on important issues that will improve the student's decision-making skills, such as socioscientific issues. Afterwards, it is assumed that the quality of argumentation will increase when supported by socioscientific issues. Based on the data, it is thought that providing students with a full understanding of the definition of socioscientific issues will create more positive views on these issues.