The present study investigated the relationship between undergraduate students’ views of nature of science (NOS) and their argumentation skills in the context of socioscientific issues (SSI). Using known frameworks, it investigated the link in three SSI: water fluoridation, global warming, and genetically modified foods. Participants in the study were 100 undergraduate students from diverse academic disciplines at a major university in Beirut (Lebanon). The study seeked to discern whether informed NOS conceptions, encompassing the subjective, tentative, and empirical aspects, can serve as predictors for the quality of argumentation. Correlations and stepwise regression analyses indicated significant associations between NOS aspects (subjective, tentative, empirical) and argumentation components (arguments, counterarguments, and rebuttals). The results of the study were discussed in relation to the intricate dynamics between NOS concepts and argumentation abilities, as well as the developmental elements of undergraduate students’ NOS understandings.
Rola Khishfe (Fri,) studied this question.