Science educational standards are increasingly emphasising on argumentation skills. However, students' argumentation skills are often not developed well as their experience of science knowledge in schools is often in the form of uncontested facts. This research asserts that argumentation skills should be developed through explicit teaching of argumentation while engaged in practical work that draws on students' science process skills. In turn, developing argumentation skills also improves their science process skills. Thus, this research sought to examine the effect of the Modified Argument-Driven Inquiry approach (MADI), Inquiry without Argument approach (IWA), and the conventional practical work approach (CON) on the development of argumentation and science process skills of Grade 10 students in practical biology. This research employed the quasi-experimental methodology involving Pre-test Post-test Non-equivalent Control Group design. The data were collected through tests on argumentation skills, science process skills and diffusion and osmosis concepts' understanding. The MANOVA results showed that there was a significant improvement in the argumentation skills, science process skills and biology understanding among the students who experienced the MADI approach in practical biology. In contrast, students who experienced the IWA approach in practical biology showed significant improvement only in biology understanding.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of incorporating explicit instruction of scientific argumentation through practical work on 10 th grade students' skills in science process. This research used a quasi-experimental method which involved one control group and two experimental groups from two national secondary schools in the category of rural school were involved in this study. A total of 112 10 th grade students from the three classrooms were assigned randomly as the conventional (CON) group, experimental group with Inquiry without Argument approach (IWA) group and the Modified Argument-Driven Inquiry approach (MADI) group. In order to evaluate the effects of intervention on the tenth-grade students, Science Process Skills Test (SPS Test) was administered as pre-test and post-test on the control and experimental groups. Data collected from the experimental study were described by means of descriptive analysis and inferential analysis involving ANOVA analyses. The results of ANOVA showed there exist significant differences in science process skills among the three groups where students in the MADI group showed better performance compared to the other groups. The results of this research have implication on researchers and practitioners keen on promoting biology science process skills through instructions of scientific argumentations given explicitly in learning environments of science practical work. .

Mastery regarding argumentation in science among high school biology students remains elusive. This study argues that argumentation can be explicitly taught and acquired through an explicit instruction revolving around argumentation. A teaching and learning module named as the LAB-MADI Module was developed to provide secondary biology students an environment to practice and acquire argumentation skills from reasoning based on evidence through practical work. An initial draft of the LAB-MADI Module for laboratory investigation was pilot studied in one of the schools with a group of twenty-two (n = 22) Grade 10 students (aged 16 years) from a pure science class taking biology as an examination subject. The results of the pilot study showed that the activities are able to improve students' argumentation skills.