Examining the effectiveness of argumentation instruction on students' misconceptions about the particulate nature of matter and dissolution on the basis of ontology

---

Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Matematik Ve Fen Bilimleri Eğitimi Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2024

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: HACER MUTLUER

Danışman: Jale Çakiroğlu

Özet:

The study aims to identify the misconceptions of 7th-grade students regarding the particulate nature of matter and dissolution and to examine the effect of argumentation instruction on these misconceptions. Furthermore, it seeks to determine the ontological reasons behind these misconceptions and investigate how argumentation instruction impacts eliminating misconceptions incorrectly assigned to ontological categories. The study uses a static group pre-test–post-test design with 35 participants: 16 received curriculum-based instruction, and 19 received argumentation instruction. Data were collected using the “Particulate Nature of Matter Concept Test,” a two-tier diagnostic test consisting of 17 questions. The analysis of the content-reason combinations from the concept test revealed that students held various misconceptions about the topic. Non-parametric test results of the quantitative data indicated a significant increase in understanding the concepts among students who received argumentation instruction compared to those who received curriculum-based instruction. In addition, ontological evaluation of the misconceptions revealed that they resulted from incorrect assignment of concepts to lateral and superordinate categories. Analysis of the students’ content-reason combination response before and after the instruction on the particulate nature of matter and dissolution concept test indicated that argumentation instruction was more effective than curriculum-based instruction in eliminating these misconceptions caused by incorrect assignment to the lateral and superordinate ontological categories. The study's results provide several implications for researchers, teachers, curriculum developers, textbook writers, and the Ministry of National Education.