The effect of activities based on socio-scientific topics on the academic success of secondary students and the media literacy and investigation of the decision-making process of the students

The aims of science education include educating individuals who are aware of the interaction between the individual, environment and society and who have developed scientific thinking, reasoning and decision-making skills by using socioscientific issues. In this context, the aim of this study is to examine the effects of activities based on socioscientific issues used in science courses on students' academic achievement, media literacy, and their decision-making processes on socioscientific issues. The study group consists of 36 sixth grade students studying at a public school in Düzce in 2021-2022. In this research process, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. "Matter and Heat Achievement Test" prepared by the researcher was used as a source of quantitative data. Qalitative data collected via the "Source Evaluation Form" developed by Sadler et al. (2021); adapted to Turkish, "Decision Making Texts" prepared by the researcher, and the semi-structured "Interview Form". Activities based on socioscientific issues, prepared in accordance with the objectives of the Matter and Heat unit, lasted for a total of 7 weeks, and the Matter and Heat Achievement Test was administered to the students before and after the implementation. During the process, the Source Evaluation Form for seven different texts and five different Decision-Making Texts were applied to the students. The analysis of the quantitative data was made with the SPSS package program and the related sample t-test was used to evaluate the test results. Content analysis was used to analyze the answers of the students to the open-ended questions in the Source Evaluation Forms. The students' answer to the open-ended questions in the Decision Making Texts were analyzed in accordance with the SEE-SEP model developed by Chang Rundgren and Rundgren (2010). The evaluation of the data obtained from the semi-structured interviews before and after the implementation was also analyzed with content analysis. According to the findings, it was determined that the activities based on socioscientific issues in the science classes increased the academic achievement of the students. Similarly, it was seen that the activities carried out positively contributed to the development of students' media literacy skills. The students frequently used the disciplines of 'Economy' and 'Environment' determined in the SEE-SEP model, while the discipline of 'Ethics/Morality' was never used in the decision making processes on socioscientific issues. In addition, the students used the 'Knowledge' dimension frequently, the 'Value' and 'Personal Experience' dimensions were used less frequently while making decisions. Based on the results of the research, suggestions were made to the researchers who will work in this field in the future.