The effect of argumentation-based activities on 9th grade students' opinions on global warming and climate change and on their argument making skills

Objective: The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of argumentation-based activities on the views and argumentation skills of 9th grade students about global warming and climate change. Material and Methods: The study was carried out in a public high school in one of the districts of Aydın province in the first semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. The participants of the study consisted of 49 students in 2 branches (one as the 1st experimental group and the other as the 2nd experimental group) studying in the 9th grade. The research was carried out according to the Triangulation pattern of the Purposeful Classification Method, one of the mixed method studies. In the quantitative part of the research, the static group pretest-posttest design from the weak experimental method was used, and in the qualitative part, the integrated single-case design from the case study methods was used. Student views on "Global Warming and Climate Change" and the effect of argumentation methods on student awareness were examined in depth. The "Global Warming and Climate Change" scale was applied to the 1st experimental group and the 2nd experimental group as pretest-posttest. According to the pretest results, a total of 6 students, 3 students from the 1st experimental group and 3 students from the 2nd experimental group, were selected. In the research, for 10 weeks, activities prepared by the researcher on "Global Warming and Climate Change" were applied to the 1st experimental group by using argumentation methods, and 3 students selected from the experimental group were asked to take pictures about the activity topics. In the 2nd experimental group, the subject was studied with teacher-centered methods with the gains determined by the researcher, and 3 students selected from the 2nd experimental group were asked to take a photo about the processed subject. The data in the end-of-course interviews were recorded and data analysis was made. At the end of the study, after all the activities were completed, the "Global Warming and Climate Change" scale was applied to the 1st experimental group and the 2nd experimental group. The t-test was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the pretest-posttest applied to the study group. While analyzing the interview forms, data analysis was done with descriptive analysis. Results: In the research findings, there was a significant difference in favor of the post-test in the pre-test and post-test scores of the "Global Warming and Climate Change Awareness Scale" in both the 1st experimental group and the 2nd experimental group, there was a positive improvement in the quality of argumentation, and in the findings obtained from the qualitative data. It has been seen that the argumentation activities related to global warming and climate change and teaching lessons have a positive effect. Conclusion: Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgular doğrultusunda çalışmada kullanılan küresel ısınma ve iklim değişikliğine yönelik etkinliklerle ders işlemenin öğrencilerin argüman kurma becerilerinin gelişimine katkı sağladığı ve öğrencilerin Küresel ısınma ve iklim değişikliği farkındalıklarını artırdığı sonucuna varılmış olup, ders işlenirken diğer uygun konularda da argümantasyon yönteminin kullanılmasının faydalı olacağı söylenebilir.