Science Teachers' Views of Scientific Argumentation

Abstract

Argumentation has received an over-increasing attention from the science education research community. However, in the Turkish science education context, studies mostly focus on investigating students' and pre-service science teachers' practices of, attitudes towards and perceptions of scientific argumentation; while neglecting the science teachers' views of this scientific practice. the purpose of this study was to investigate Turkish middle school teachers', who work in 67 different cities in Turkey, views of scientific argumentation. Three hundred fifty-seven middle school science teachers (219 females and 138 males) participated in the study. Data was collected using an online "argumentation view form" consisting of five multiple-choice and three open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics were reported for the multiple-choice items. the open-ended questions were analyzed by the researchers employing content analysis. the teachers indicated that they use discourse and argumentation in their classes frequently, they mostly utilize experiments to promote argumentation, and physics subjects are the most suitable subjects for argumentation. the most frequently stated views on the open-ended questions were (a) argumentation is important for motivating students towards learning science, (b) classroom management is a challenge for implementing argumentation, and (c) socioscientific issues should be used to support argumentation in science classrooms. Implications for professional development programs were provided.