Pre-Service Science Teachers' Written Argumentation Qualities: From the Perspectives of Socio-Scientific Issues, Epistemic Belief Levels and Online Discussion Environment

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Isbilir E., ÇAKIROĞLU J., Ertepinar H.

EURASIA JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION, vol.10, no.5, pp.371-381, 2014 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 10 Issue: 5
  • Publication Date: 2014
  • Doi Number: 10.12973/eurasia.2014.1110a
  • Journal Name: EURASIA JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.371-381
  • Keywords: Epistemic belief levels, online discussion environment, socio-scientific issues, written argumentation, ASSESSING DIALOGIC ARGUMENTATION, DECISION-MAKING, STUDENTS ARGUMENTATION, SOCIOSCIENTIFIC ISSUES, DISCUSSIONS, KNOWLEDGE, GENETICS
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between pre-service science teachers. written argumentation levels about socio-scientific issues and epistemic belief levels in an online discussion environment. A mixed-methods approach was used: 30 Turkish pre-service science teachers contributed with their written argumentations to four socio-scientific issues. The pre-service science teachers. argumentations were evaluated by an adapted version of argumentation analysis framework developed by Sadler and Fowler (2006) and their epistemic belief levels were measured using the Epistemic Belief Questionnaire by Kuhn, Cheney, and Weinstock (2000). The qualitative as well as quantitative results indicated that: (1) the pre-service science teachers produced high-level argumentations for each socio-scientific issue in an online discussion environment, (2) levels of argumentations increased from climate change to human genome project issue, and (3) higher-level argumentations were produced for higher epistemic belief levels (i.e., multiplist and evaluativist).