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The aim of this study was to delve into the effect of context-based approach (CBA) over traditional instruction (TI) on students’ chemical literacy level related to thermochemical and thermodynamics concepts. Four eleventh-grade classes with 118 students in total taught by two teachers from a public high school in 2012 fall semester were enrolled in this particular study. The treatments were randomly assigned to the already formed classes; experimental groups were treated as CBA, the control groups as TI. Each teacher had one experimental and one control group. Open-ended contextual item sets were developed to assess students’ chemical literacy level in thermochemical and thermodynamics concepts. The test was administered to both groups as a post-test at the end of the implementation. Students’ responses to item sets were analyzed based on the rubric prepared as the answer key. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used for interpreting the data. The results reveal that CBA is superior to TI on improving students’ chemical literacy levels, implying that CBA, as a discussion platform for concepts through real-life experiences, has a significant role in increasing students’ chemical literacy levels in abstract and difficult concepts regardless of the gender difference.

Argumentative practices have the potential to contribute to scientific literacy. However, these practices are not widely incorporated in science classrooms and so their effect on the domains of literacy is still not revealed. Therefore, this study proposes to reveal the effect of argumentation on the three domains of chemical literacy related to the concepts of acids and bases. The study participants comprised 29 freshman pre-service science teachers’ enrolled in a General Chemistry-II course. Argumentation practices were implemented over six weeks. Open-ended contextual chemical literacy items were developed to assess the differences in the chemical literacy domains and the items were administered before and right after the intervention. The responses to the chemical literacy items were scored with a rubric and three scores were calculated: knowledge, competency, and attitudes. Paired samplet-tests were used to compare the mean scores. All the intervention sessions were video recorded, and three of them were analyzed according to three criteria: the presence of arguments, the frequency of arguments, and the levels of the arguments. The findings revealed that the argumentation practices contributed to the pre-service teachers’ chemical literacy skills, mostly to their knowledge and competencies when compared to their attitudes. Moreover, distinct differences in the quality of argumentation levels were observed over the six weeks.

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This study explores whether the context-based approach with 5E model (CBA-5E) can lead to better understanding of chemical reactions and energy concepts when compared to conventional instruction (CI). Additionally, the study delves into the effect of treatment with regards to gender. Eleventh grade science-major classes with 175 students from two public high schools were enrolled. The experimental groups were treated with CBA-5E, the control groups as CI, the treatments were randomly assigned to the groups. The chemical reactions and energy concepts test, including the common alternative conceptions, was administered as pre- and post-test. The chemical reactions and energy achievement test, including conceptual and algorithmic problems, was administered as a post-test to the groups. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was used for the analysis of the data, and the results revealed that CBA-5E was superior to CI on the students’ conceptual understanding regarding these concepts regardless of gender difference. Key words: chemical reactions and energy, conceptual understanding, context-based lessons, gender, 5E model.