The Development of a Socioscientific Issues-Based Curriculum Unit for Middle School Students: Global Warming Issue

Abstract

In this study, we aimed at developing -Human and Environment‖ unit around SSI based instruction. We followed action research methodology in development and implementation of the unit. The participants of this study were 24 seventh graders students and the instruction was extended to eight and a half weeks, taking four hours in a week. The data collection tools included the teacher's, the students' diaries, midterm exams, and video records. The SSI-based instructional framework of Presley and colleagues (2013) guided us to develop this unit for middle school. We also used the framework for analyzing student and teachers' diaries. The correct answers were scored with 1 point while wrong answers were evaluated with 0 point for mid-term exams which were multiple choice exams. Video records were evaluated in terms of SSI-based instruction observation form. Our findings showed that the framework of Presley and colleagues (2013) was useful for the development of an effective SSI-based instruction. At the end of the study a unit started with a global warming, interacting with science ideas and practices, and ended with a final activity was presented.

Investigation of the Bibliometric Features of the Articles on Socioscientific Issues

“…This status may have increased the tendency towards this research field as it causes citizens living in countries to encounter many more SSI in their daily lives. For example, when evaluated in terms of climate change and the greenhouse effect (for example, Klosterman & Sadler, 2010;Atabey & Topçu, 2017b), which are frequently addressed as global SSI, the USA takes the lead both in greenhouse gas emission (World Resources Institute, 2016) and in discussions on this issue (Mohajan, 2012). Many SSIs such as the construction of nuclear power plants in different regions and cities of Turkey, which is one of the developing countries, within the framework of policies such as reducing dependence on foreign energy resources (Nuclear Associations, 2020) have frequently come to the agenda of the country.…”

Improving Argumentative Writing of Sixth-Grade Adolescents Through Dialogic Inquiry of Socioscientific Issues

“…SSI-based instruction implemented in science classrooms has shown positive effects in promoting scientific reasoning, argumentation, decision-making, and science content learning for students from various cultures and grade levels (See review, in Sadler, 2011). SSI-based instruction has also shown promise in improving adolescent students' quality of argumentation in oral and written domains (Atabey & Topcu, 2017;Chowning et al, 2012;Dolan et al, 2009;Gutierez, 2015;Venville & Dawson, 2010;Zohar & Nemet, 2002), but how culturally and linguistically diverse students engage in SSI and its potential benefits on language and thinking development is less understood.…”

“…The positive impact of SSI-based intervention on written argumentation has mostly been documented among high school students (e.g., Dawson & Carson, 2020;Venville & Dawson, 2010) and reported only in a few studies involving upper elementary and middle school students (Atabey & Topcu 2017;Belland et al, 2015;Morris et al, 2018;. For example, Atabey and Topcu (2017) found pre-and post-test improvements in 7th graders' argumentative writing in terms of the quality of the claim, evidence, and reasoning components after the implementation of an SSI-based curriculum on global warming in science classrooms.…”

Exploring the Student and Social Accountability of the Life Sciences Curriculum: a Case of Hiv/Aids

“…Christenson and Chang Rundgren (2015), for example, proposed that curriculum could be used to facilitate students' argumentation skills using content related to genetically modified organisms. Similarly, Atabey and Topcu (2017) used a science curriculum to teach primary school learners about global warming. In some instances, the school science curriculum is used to promote social justice, citizenship, and democracy (Nuangchalerm & El Islami, 2018).…”