The effect of argumentation method and explicit-reflective approach on nature of science understanding: A meta-analysis study

With increasing the studies on the comprehending of the nature of science in recent years, the correct ways of accessing scientific knowledge are being attempted to be taught to students and prospective teachers. Although the studies have increased in recent years, the small sample size leads to a low generalizability of these studies. In this way, it is intended to investigate the effect of argumentation method and explicit-reflective approach on the comprehending of the nature of science of students and prospective teachers. 13 MA and 4 Ph.D. theses containing experimental and quasi-experimental designs between 2006-2019 are included in the study and searched from National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education via related keywords. The quantitative data in the scanned theses were analysed by using meta-analysis and the effect sizes of the studies and the overall effect size were calculated to reveal a general view using the CMA (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis) program. Thus, it is intended to reach more accurate and generalizable results by examining the effect of argumentation method and explicit-reflective approach on the comprehending of the nature of science from a holistic point of view. At the end of the study, it was concluded that the argumentation method has a very wide effect on the comprehending of the nature of science compared to other methods, while the explicit-reflective approach has a small effect.