Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Written Argumentation Qualities: From the Perspectives of Socio-Scientific Issues, Epistemic Belief Levels and Online Discussion Environment

Erdinc Isbilir; Jale Cakiroglu; Hamide Ertepinar

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2014.1110a

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Erdinc Isbilir ¹ ^* , Jale Cakiroglu ¹, Hamide Ertepinar ²

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¹ Middle East Technical University, TURKEY² Istanbul Aydın University, TURKEY^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between pre-service science teachers‟ written argumentation levels about socio-scientific issues and epistemic belief levels in an online discussion environment. A mixed-methods approach was used: 30 Turkish pre-service science teachers contributed with their written argumentations to four socio-scientific issues. The pre-service science teachers‟ argumentations were evaluated by an adapted version of argumentation analysis framework developed by Sadler and Fowler (2006) and their epistemic belief levels were measured using the Epistemic Belief Questionnaire by Kuhn, Cheney, and Weinstock (2000). The qualitative as well as quantitative results indicated that: (1) the pre-service science teachers produced high-level argumentations for each socio-scientific issue in an online discussion environment, (2) levels of argumentations increased from climate change to human genome project issue, and (3) higher-level argumentations were produced for higher epistemic belief levels (i.e., multiplist and evaluativist).

Keywords

epistemic belief levels
online discussion environment
Socio-Scientific Issues
written argumentation

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 10, Issue 5, 2014, 371-381

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1110a

Publication date: 15 Dec 2014

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How to cite this article

APA

Isbilir, E., Cakiroglu, J., & Ertepinar, H. (2014). Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Written Argumentation Qualities: From the Perspectives of Socio-Scientific Issues, Epistemic Belief Levels and Online Discussion Environment. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 10(5), 371-381. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1110a

Vancouver

Isbilir E, Cakiroglu J, Ertepinar H. Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Written Argumentation Qualities: From the Perspectives of Socio-Scientific Issues, Epistemic Belief Levels and Online Discussion Environment. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2014;10(5):371-81. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1110a

AMA

Isbilir E, Cakiroglu J, Ertepinar H. Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Written Argumentation Qualities: From the Perspectives of Socio-Scientific Issues, Epistemic Belief Levels and Online Discussion Environment. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2014;10(5), 371-381. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1110a

Chicago

Isbilir, Erdinc, Jale Cakiroglu, and Hamide Ertepinar. "Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Written Argumentation Qualities: From the Perspectives of Socio-Scientific Issues, Epistemic Belief Levels and Online Discussion Environment". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2014 10 no. 5 (2014): 371-381. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1110a

Harvard

Isbilir, E., Cakiroglu, J., and Ertepinar, H. (2014). Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Written Argumentation Qualities: From the Perspectives of Socio-Scientific Issues, Epistemic Belief Levels and Online Discussion Environment. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 10(5), pp. 371-381. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1110a

MLA

Isbilir, Erdinc et al. "Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Written Argumentation Qualities: From the Perspectives of Socio-Scientific Issues, Epistemic Belief Levels and Online Discussion Environment". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 10, no. 5, 2014, pp. 371-381. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1110a