Perspectives Related To Socio-Scientific Issues According To The Scientific Attitude Points Of Secondary School Students

Individuals have different opinions and views on many socio-scientific issues such as nuclear power plants, stem cells, influenza vaccine, cloning and organ transplantation that affect social life. Scientific attitudes and scientific literacy of individuals can affect their approach to socio-scientific issues. In this study, it is aimed to reveal how the opinions of 8th grade secondary school students towards socio-scientific issues change according to their scientific attitudes. For this purpose, "Scientific Attitude Scale" and "Socio-Scientific Issues Evaluation Form" were applied to the students. In this study, mixed research design was used and qualitative and quantitative data were collected together. The scientific attitude levels of the students participating in the study were determined according to the quantitative findings obtained from the study. In general, it was observed that the students had a moderate scientific attitude. Students were divided into three groups according to their scientific attitude scores as lower, moderate and upper. The opinions of the students in the lower and upper groups on socio-scientific issues were analysed based on both qualitative and quantitative findings. According to the findings obtained from the study; it was determined that students with a high scientific attitude have more knowledge and views on socio-scientific issues than students with low scientific attitudes.