The effect of argumentation method in teaching socio-scientific issues on the critical thinking skills of primary school students

The aim of this research is to examine the impact of the argumentation method on the critical thinking skills of 4th grade primary school students in the teaching of socioscientific issues. The study group of the research consists of a total of 66 students in the 4th grades of primary school, studying in a district of a province located in the Southeastern Anatolia Region during the 2024-2025 academic year. The research employs a quasi-experimental design, one of the quantitative research methods. The data of the study were obtained by applying the 'Critical thinking tendencies scale for primary school students' developed by Uluçınar and Akar (2023). During the research process, lessons in the experimental group were conducted according to a lesson plan designed using the argumentation method (two days a week for a total of five weeks). In the control group, lessons were carried out based on a lesson plan prepared using the activities included In the 2024 Science Curriculum. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) 27.0. During the data analysis process, descriptive statistics and dependent and independent sample t-tests, which are parametric tests, were applied. According to the data obtained at the end of the research, no significant difference was found between the students in both groups regarding critical thinking skills as a result of the comparison of the pre-test scores of the critical thinking dispositions scale applied before the experimental study. After the intervention, a significant difference was observed in favor of the experimental group between the post-test scores of the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale for the control and experimental groups. The post-test score of critical thinking skills in the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. After the intervention, the critical thinking skills of the experimental group were found to be at a higher level than those of the control group. The results obtained from the research findings can be summarized as follows: While no significant difference was found between the two groups before the experimental study in the teaching of socioscientific issues using the argumentation method, a significant difference in favor of the experimental group emerged after the study, where activities based on the argumentation method were implemented. According to these results, activities based on the argumentation method have been successful in developing students' critical thinking skills. Key Words: Socioscientific Issues, Argumentation, Critical Thinking Skills, Primary School Students