Benzegul Durak

This study proposes a three-phase professional development (PD) program for middle school science teachers and aims to investigate their engagement with the Socioscientific Issue and Model-Based Learning (SIMBL) framework. It follows a multiple-case study design, and the main data sources of the study are semi-structured interviews, while the secondary data sources include developed SIMBL units, field notes of the PD program, classroom observations of the lessons, and unstructured phone calls/messages. The semi-structured interviews comprise pre- and post-PD program interviews as well as post-implementation interviews. Employing the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth framework for data analysis, teachers are categorized into three distinct groups: proactive, collaborative, and teacher-led. Findings highlight how teacher beliefs and prior experiences shape their ability to integrate SIMBL into classroom practices. The study emphasizes the critical role of sustained PD, reflective practices, and alignment with teacher beliefs in facilitating the effective implementation of innovative teaching frameworks. Ultimately, the SIMBL framework was found to enhance student engagement with socioscientific issues by fostering critical thinking, systems-based reasoning, and media literacy, contributing to science education.

Giriş ve Hedefler Dünyada yenilenebilir enerji, sürdürülebilirlik ve iklim değişikliği konularında algı ve farkındalık düzeyini araştıran çeşitli çalışmalar bulunmaktadır. Bu çalışma ile Düzce ve Zonguldak ilerinde seçilmiş ilköğretim öğrencilerine yönelik doğa ve çevre bilinci/farkındalığını belirlemek için yapılan sunum ve eğitimlerin etkilerinin araştırılması hedeflenmiştir. Yöntemler Araştırma, Düzce iline bağlı Gölyaka, Kaynaşlı ve Merkez ilçeleriyle Zonguldak iline bağlı Ereğli ilçesinde toplam 574 öğrenciden 416’sına ulaşılarak 6 okulda gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırma kapsamında ilköğretim öğrencilerine yönelik eğitim kitapçıkları ve doğa, çevre ve yenilenebilir enerji eğitim sunumları araştırmacılarca hazırlanmış ve yapılmıştır. Araştırmada, demografik bilgiler haricinde 3 bölüm ve toplam 37 sorudan oluşan anket kullanılmıştır. Anket öğrencilere hem çalışma kapsamında verilen eğitimden önce hem de eğitimden sonra uygulanmıştır. Öğrencilerin çevreye yönelik düşünce ve duyguları “Çocuklar İçin Yeni Ekolojik Paradigma Ölçeği” ile ölçülmüştür. Öğrencilerin çevreye yönelik davranışlarını belirlemek için “Çevresel Sorumluluk Ölçeğinden” yararlanılmıştır. Öğrencilerin yenilenebilir enerji kullanımına dönük tutumlarını belirlemek için de “Yenilenebilir Enerji Kullanımına Yönelik Niyet Ölçeğinden” yararlanılmıştır. Bulgular Öğrencilerin ağırlıklı olarak 4., 5. ve 6. Sınıftan oldukları görülmüştür. Çalışmada çevreye yönelik duygu ve düşüncelerin eğitim sonrasında pozitif yönde geliştiği tespit edilmiştir. Yenilenebilir enerji kullanımına dönük davranışların belirlenmesine yönelik kullanılan ölçek sonuçlarında eğitim sonrasında öğrencilerin daha yüksek oranda yenilenebilir enerji kullanma niyetinde oldukları belirlenmiştir. Sonuçlar Araştırma sonucunda yapılan eğitimlerle öğrencilerin çevreye dönük düşünce ve duygularında olumlu yönde gelişmeler gözlemlenmiş, bu da eğitimin doğaya ve çevreye duyarlılığı artırdığını göstermiştir. Ayrıca, doğanın hakları ve insan özgürlüğü gibi kavramların farkındalığında, eğitimin olumlu etkileri görülmüştür, bu da öğrencilerin çevresel bilinçlerinin derinleştiğini göstermektedir.

In this chapter, the question of whether educational technologies, particularly extended reality technologies, which gained momentum after the pandemic, can serve as an alternative to traditional classrooms in science education was explored. For this aim, an XR workshop has been prepared for middle school science teachers currently teaching in different schools in Duzce, Turkey. During the program, a total of 9 teachers acquired theoretical knowledge about augmented reality, virtual reality, and extended reality, and they also engaged in practical applications. Subsequently, they prepared lesson plans or activities using XR technologies, where they previously applied lessons using traditional methods. At the end of the program, data was collected through interviews with teachers. The views of teachers were discussed in relation to the potential of XR technologies against traditional classrooms.

This research was conducted to examine pre-service teachers’ perception of renewable energy sources, tendency to use renewable energy and opinions about the future use of renewable energy sources and to investigate whether they have basic knowledge about renewable energy sources. To this end, the Renewable Energy Perception Scale, a 5-point Likert scale, was administered to a total of 755 pre-service teachers in the Science Teaching and Primary Teaching Departments in the Education Faculty of Düzce University. The scale has three sub-dimensions, namely “Renewable Energy Knowledge”, “Renewable Energy Future Vision”, and “Renewable Energy Tendency”. In the whole scale and its sub-dimensions of “Renewable Energy Knowledge” and “Renewable Energy Tendency”, it was found that the pre-service primary teachers had a statistically significantly better perception of renewable energy sources than the pre-service science teachers. Also, younger participants were found to have a statistically significantly better perception in the “Renewable Energy Tendency” sub-dimension. There is a statistically significant gender-based difference in the “Renewable Energy Future Vision” sub-dimension. On the other hand, no significant gender-based difference was found for the whole scale and the other sub-dimensions. This study shows the importance of examining pre-service teachers’ perception of renewable energy in terms of their better teaching these sources to their future students.

Recent research suggests that integrating model-based learning and socioscientific issue based instruction helps students construct meaningful learning in science classrooms. Thus, this paper presents a unit plan that integrates model-based learning and socioscientific issues. The focus of the unit is the white butterfly which is a local pest. A 4-week middle school unit was developed on the driving question, “How might the population change of the white butterflies interact with the local ecosystems?”. Evaluation of the unit was made through students’ models and explanations. There were three modeling sessions throughout the unit. “Components” and “Explanatory Process” rubrics were developed to evaluate the models and explanations. The results showed that students’ pre-knowledge about the white butterfly and its relationship with the local ecosystem was quite limited and throughout the lessons they were questioned and gained knowledge about the relationship between the white butterfly and ecosystem. Also, students became able to explain the effects and results of the methods used to control the white butterfly but not able to show them by drawing. Therefore, it is highly recommended to evaluate the models together with their explanations, as students’ drawing skills are a limitation for the use of models.

During the unprecedented and rapid spread of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) around the World, students have been concerned about the disease as much as the rest of the global community. As a real-world problem, the COVID-19 pandemic with many different debatable facets has social and scientific components, impacts society, and shows socioscientific issue characteristics. The pandemic blew up a debate about wearing or not wearing a face mask against infection and occupied the world agenda for nearly six months. After the World Health Organization (WHO) supports wearing face masks, a new debate on whether to wear fabric or a medical mask to protect public health started. Depending on that debate, a Perspective-Evidence Link diagram activity is designed for high school students and presented in this paper. The designed activity uses two different perspectives related to that debate and texts providing pieces of evidence for these perspectives. Students are expected to make different types of connections indicating the support/contradiction/irrelevancy of these texts to each perspective while explaining their reasons for selecting different connection types. In addition to explaining the details of how to use the designed COVID-19-Perspective-Evidence Link diagram as online activity, this paper makes recommendations for classroom usage to help teachers use it in a productive manner.

This chapter aims to provide a literature analysis on socio-scientific issues and model-based learning. The position of socio-scientific issues in the process of raising science literate students is indisputable. On the other hand, modeling gives students opportunities to construct their own models and use them through the learning process to formulate hypothesis, make investigations, explain scientific phenomena, and communicate and justify their ideas. Therefore, embedding modeling practice to SSI-based instruction through a framework is an innovative tool for scientific literacy in science education.