Examination of Post Graduate Thesis Related to Socio-Scientific Topics: A Systematic Analysis

Abstract

Socio-scientific issues arise as a result of technological developments and cause serious discussions in society. Transferring these discussions to classroom environments contributes to students’ learning based on research and inquiry. In recent years, there has been an increase in studies in the socio-scientific field on this subject. However, the absence of a systematic evaluation of thesis studies can be considered a deficiency. Based on this idea, the present study was conducted to determine the research trends in postgraduate theses on socio-scientific issues. The study was designed according to qualitative research methodology, and a document analysis method was used. The sample consisted of 95 postgraduate theses carried out between 2008 and 2021. The data were collected with the data collection form developed by the researcher. In the analysis of the data, descriptive or content analysis was used depending on the sub-problems. According to the results, the trend towards socio-scientific issues reached a peak in 2018, and research was done much more intensively in some universities, and the studies were generally carried out in the field of science teaching. There was a balanced distribution in terms of method, the sample size was mostly between 11 and 30, the samples generally consisted of secondary school students and science teachers, and there was consistency between data analysis techniques and data collection tools. Content analysis showed that the results were related to the selected topics. Affective features, argumentation, content knowledge, teaching methods and techniques, reasoning, and success are the factors that affect socio-scientific issues. It is thought that the results of this research will be a guide for future postgraduate studies. © 2023,Milli Egitim.All Rights Reserved.