Examining socioscientific reasoning of science, social and classrom teachers

The aim of this study is to examine the socioscientific reasoning of science, social studies and classroom teachers and to determine the effect of various variables on reasoning. In the study carried out with descriptive scanning design, one of the quantitative research approaches, proportional stratified sampling method according to the branch variable was used. In the study group, there are 430 teachers, 80 of whom are science teachers, 53 are social studies, and 297 are classroom teachers, working in 66 different cities across Turkey. The Socioscientific Reasoning Scale (SMI), developed by Romine, Sadler, and Kinslow (2017), was used as a data collection tool by adapting it. Confirmatory factor analysis and rash analysis were performed to test the reliability and validity of the adapted scale. The data obtained from the scale were subjected to descriptive analysis, t test, ANOVA and Scheffe tests. According to the results of the research, the socioscientific reasoning of the teachers in the sample is at a moderate level and there is no significant difference between them. In the sub-dimensions of socioscientific reasoning, the highest level is in the sub-dimension of perspective in all three branches, while the lowest level is in the sub-dimension of complexity in science and classroom teachers and in the sub-dimension of inquiry in social studies teachers. While postgraduate education has no effect on socioscientific reasoning, the variables of branch, gender and professional experience affect socioscientific reasoning. The results obtained from the research were discussed by comparing them with other studies in the field, and suggestions were made for teacher training policies, teachers' in-service training activities and researchers who will work in the field.