Developing STEM and argumentation activities suitable for scientific reasoning styles for the astronomy course and the effect of the activities on the academic success, reasoning skills and argumentation skills of science teacher candidates

Objective: The aim of the research is to develop STEM and Argumentation activities according to scientific reasoning styles, and to examine the effect of the Astronomy course taught with these activities on the academic achievement, reasoning and argumentation skills of 4th grade Science Teacher candidates, the development in their argumentation skills and STEM products and performances. Material and Methods: The research was carried out with 10 Science Teacher Candidates who took astronomy lessons at a state university in the Aegean Region in the fall semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. A holistic multiple case study design was used in the research. As a data collection tool in the research, the Astronomy Achievement Test, which was developed for the study to measure the effect of the developed activities on the astronomy success of teacher candidates, Lawson's Logical Thinking Test to measure its effect on scientific thinking skills, and the Scientific Argumentation Test to measure their argumentation skills were used. The scales were administered to prospective science teachers before the implementation of the STEM and Argumentation supported activities developed in accordance with the Astronomy course subjects and after the implementation of the 8-week activities. The data obtained in the research were analyzed and the student worksheets for the activities applied during the lesson were examined. Results: In the findings of the study, there was a significant difference in the reasoning skills of the pre-service science teachers after the applied activities, but no significant difference was reached in the academic achievement and argumentation skills. From the beginning to the end of the implementation process of the activities, the STEM performance and product scores of the participants in STEM supported activities increased, likewise, the argument points of the participants increased from the beginning to the end of the implementation process of the activities in the Argumentation supported activities. Conclusion: It is seen that STEM and Argumentation activities developed in accordance with Scientific Reasoning Styles have a positive effect on the reasoning skills of the Science Teacher Candidates, but they do not reveal a significant difference in their academic achievement and scientific argumentation skills compared to the pre-application. Towards the end, the participants' STEM product and performance scores and argumentation scores increased. Keywords: Activity development, Argumentation, Astronomy, Logical thinking skill, Science Teacher Candidates, STEM