The effect of argumentation based activities in teaching of biotechnology

With the advances in technology, the importance of biotechnology is increasing day by day. Since the renewed Science Curriculum is updated according to today's conditions, it is important for the originality of the study to be carried out with activities based on arguments. In this study, it is aimed to examine the effect of argument-based activities in teaching biotechnology. This study was conducted in a branch of 8th grade students with 21 students, 9 girls and 12 boys, studying at a secondary school in the province of Van. The mixed approach was used in the study. Biotechnology Information Questionnaire (BINQ), Biotechnology Interest Questionnaire (BIQ), and the Interview Form developed by the researcher to determine the views of the students in the teaching of argumentation-based activities were used as data collection tools. The quantitative data of the study were collected using the "Biotechnology Information Questionnaire (BINQ)" and "Biotechnology Interest Questionnaire (BIQ)", and the qualitative data were collected using the "Semi-structured interview form". Since the data obtained from the study did not show a normal distribution, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test was used among non-parametric tests. Qualitative data, on the other hand, were analyzed by content and descriptive analysis. In teaching the subject of biotechnology with argumentation-based activities, it has contributed positively to the students' knowledge about biotechnology , their interest in biotechnology and their views on biotechnology. Students were enabled to be informed in the course of active participation , to be informed during the argumentation process , to participate in discussions , and to think creatively towards biotechnology during the argument formation processes. In the light of this information , it is recommended to include activity-based gains by increasing the lesson hours with activites that include concrete expressions and make students active in order to teach science subjects more meaningfully. Keywords: argumentation, biotechnology,8th grade students