Determining epistemological beliefs and argumentation skills of 7th grade students

The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the epistemological beliefs of 7th grade students and their argumentation skills. In the research, "Is there a relationship between the epistemological beliefs of 7th grade students and their argumentation skills?" The answer to the question has been sought. The research was carried out with two branches of 44 students in total, consisting of 7th grade students in a secondary school in Ankara in the 2022-2023 academic year. In the first phase of this study, my advisor Prof.Dr. The 26-item epistemological belief scale developed by Eralp BAHÇİVAN was applied. The results of the scale were analyzed in the SPSS program and the study was continued with a total of 9 students, 3 of whom had low, medium and high epistemological beliefs. In the second stage, 7 argumentation questions developed by the researcher were prepared and applied to 9 students. In the third stage, a semi-structured interview technique consisting of 10 questions was applied to 9 students. Multiple case study, which is a qualitative approach, was used in the research. As a result of the research, it has been seen that the argument quality of sophisticated individuals who are prone to scientific discussion is at a high level. It was observed that the quality of the argument was low in naive individuals who were not inclined to make scientific arguments. As a result of the research, it was seen that there was a relationship between the epistemological beliefs of individuals and their argument quality.