The effect of argumentation based science applications on the academic achievement of science teacher candidates

The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of argumentation based science applications on the academic achievement of students in the teaching of "Mixtures, Separation Methods of Mixtures and Factors Affecting the Dissolution Rate" within the scope of General Chemistry-I course. The study group of the research consists of 20 experiment groups and 20 control groups, totaling 40 students in the first grade of Inonu University Faculty of Education in the spring semester of 2018-2019 academic year. Students who created the sample of the research; are placed according to score priority in the exam organised by Student Selection and Placement Organisation (OSYM). One division for the students whose numbers end with double number and other division for the students whose numbers end with single number were created by the Department of Science Education. In our study, one of the divisions was designed as the experiment group and the other as the control group. Therefore, the achievement levels of the students in both groups are equal. Semi-experimental design was used in the study. As data collection tool; A multiple choice achievement test consisting of 39 questions prepared by the researcher was taken from the tests prepared by the Ministry of Education (MEB), the university preparation exams and Student Preparation Books prepared by the Student Selection and Placement Center (OSYM). This achievement test was used as pre-test and post-test at the beginning and end of the study. "Mixtures, Separation Method of Mixtures and Factors Affecting the Dissolution Rate" subjects were explained by the traditional method which is in the control group; In the experimental group, the study was completed in 6 weeks by using argumentation method. SPSS 24 package program was used for data analysis. As a result of the research, "Mixtures, Separation Method of Mixtures and Factors Affecting the Dissolution Rate" teaching; A statistically significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test results in favor of post-test in both experimental and control groups. When the pre-test results of both groups were compared, it was found that there was no statistically significant difference between them, so the success levels were the same. When the post-test results of both groups were compared, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group in which the discussion method was applied. It has been seen that the discussion based science applications increase the academic success of science teacher candidates. Based on these results, recommendations are made.