The effect of out-of-school learning environments based on socio-scientific issues on students' conceptual understandings and decision-making skills

This study aimed to determine the effect of activities related to socio-scientific issues conducted in out-of-school learning environments on seventh graders' conceptual understanding and decision-making skills and their opinions about socio-scientific issues. An embedded, mixed-method research design was used in this study. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected before and after an implementation was performed with the study group. A quasi-experimental, time series design was used for the quantitative part of the study, while holistic single case study design was used for the qualitative part. The qualitative and quantitative study group of the study consisted of 21 seventh graders at a middle school in the Hendek District of Sakarya in the 2014-2015 school year. These students were selected according to various criteria determined by the researcher in advance using a purposeful sampling method. As part of the study, activities related to socio-scientific issues were conducted in out-of-school learning environments. Field trips were organized to three different out-of-school learning environments, including a hydroelectric power plant, a dialysis center and the TUBITAK Marmara Research Center. Three different socio-scientific issues on the science teaching curriculum (hydroelectric power plant, organ donation and genetically modified organisms) were addressed in these activities. "The Conceptual Understanding of Socio-Scientific Issues Test," developed by the researcher, and "The Adolescent Decision-Making Scale" were used as quantitative data collection instruments. For qualitative data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants to determine their opinions and behaviors about the activities related to socio-scientific issues conducted in out-of-school learning environments and the effects of these activities on participants' conceptual understanding and decision-making skills. Moreover, written documents were obtained from the open-ended question forms, and researcher's observations and field notes were recorded. In addition to these instruments, "The Conceptual Understanding of Socio-Scientific Issues Test" which was developed by the researcher as a quantitative instrument, was also used as a qualitative data collection tool. The pilot study of the research was conducted with 12 seventh graders at a middle school in the Hendek District of Sakarya in the 2014-2015 school year. The pilot study was conducted with these students within the context of a socio-scientific issue (whether factories should be established or not) by means of activities conducted in a related out-of-school learning environment (a factory). SPSS 18.0.0 was used for quantitative data analysis. The paired samples t-test was used for analyzing the students' responses to the conceptual understanding test, while the Friedman test and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used for the data obtained from the adolescent decision-making scale. Content analysis was used for qualitative data analysis. Analysis of the data revealed that activities related to socio-scientific issues conducted in out-of-school learning environments helped students to develop their decision-making and conceptual learning skills. The findings obtained from both qualitative and quantitative instruments used in the study also supported these results. These activities related to socio-scientific issues very effectively enabled students to acquire the characteristics that scientifically literate individuals should have. In this study, it is also found that these activities affected students at cognitive and affective levels. Keywords: Out-of-School Learning Environments, Informal Learning, Socio-Scientific Issues, Decision-Making Skills, Conceptual Understanding