The Impact of a Proposed Model for Teaching Socio-Scientific Issues in the Third Secondary Grade Biology Class on Developing Students' Level of Scientific Argumentation

This research aims to measure the impact of a proposed model for teaching Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) in third secondary grade biology on developing scientific argumentation skills in high school biology lessons. A design-based research approach (DBR) was employed combining a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. The subjects of the study consisted of 46 students; divided into two groups: experimental group which was taught using the proposed model, and the control group which learned in the traditional way. To achieve the objectives of the study, data collection was through open-test, individual and group interviews, teacher diaries, students' discussion worksheets and audio and video recordings. An analysis of quantitative and qualitative data showed significant differences for the experimental group in the post-test at the level of collective scientific argumentation skills, in addition to each component of scientific argumentation.