The examination of 7th grade students' informal reasoning on socioscientific issues related to the environment

The purpose of this study is to determine the informal reasoning of 7th grade students in socioscientific issues. For this purpose, a holistic multiple-case design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. 19 students from a state school in Delice district of Kırıkkale have voluntarily participated in the study, during 2015-2016 academic year. Three scenarios about "Global Warming", "Conscious Consumption" and "Migration", prepared by the researcher, were used to determine the informal reasoning of the students. The research lasted eight weeks and the researcher's status was participant observer. As a result of the research, students were observed to possess economical, ecological, social and political informal reasoning. Students mostly approached socioscientific issues from multiple and different perspectives from the beginning to the end of the socioscientific program. No details about the informal reasoning process can be found in written documents (pre-post scenario), whereas the details of the decision-making process could be reached through the examination of written documents with sound recordings. Students developed their arguments during small group discussions. Family, media, research, newspaper and journals were found to be effective in their argument development. Students were observed to learn about socio-scientific issues from science and social studies courses, media, their families, friends, and the general network. It is also understood that these sources play a role in changing opinion. Group discussions have improved talking freely on socioscientific issues. Students, who told very few things at the beginning of the process, were observed to express more and more opinions. Students should have the opportunity to make informal reasoning about socioscientific issues.