The Future of Education

The aim of the study is to determine the argumentation levels of science and biology teacher candidates studying in the field of science on some socio-scientific issues. For this purpose, two nutrition-themed written argumentation scenarios and questions were prepared by the researcher in the study. Scenarios and related questions were prepared taking into account Toulmin's argumentation model. The first scenario is dietary habits (gluten-free diet); The second one is about organic and GMO food (safe food). This study was designed as a case study, one of the qualitative research methods. 143 science and biology teacher candidates participated. In the study, written arguments of prospective teachers were analyzed with descriptive analysis. Erduran et al. (2004)'s argumentation levels model was used. As a result of the study, it was seen that teacher candidates created level 1 arguments; It has been observed that they cannot produce arguments at higher levels. Although teacher candidates created arguments at level 5 in the scenario on healthy eating and diet, the majority of the candidates created arguments at level 1. In the scenario on food safety, it was observed that the candidates were not able to put forward high-level arguments. It was concluded that the candidates could not present simple claims, counter-claims, data and supports in terms of their written argumentation levels,  and could not put forward rebuttals or rebuttals, which are considered to be higher skills.

Key Words: argumentation, socioscientific issues, healthy nutrition, teacher candidates

References

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Yıldırım, A., & Şimşek, H. (2021). Qualitative research methods. Ankara: Seçkin Publishing. ( Qualitative research methods . Ankara: Publisher Seçkin)