Enhancing students' argumentation skills, content knowledge, and Nature of Science understanding through a web-based educational instrument in the context of socio-scientific issues

Using socio-scientific issues as a learning context is an effective
approach to achieve an important goal in science education,
which is to enhance scientific literacy. It involves strengthening
skills such as argumentation while also improving an
understanding of the Nature of Science and imparting content
knowledge. The present study evaluates the impact of a web-based
educational instrument consisting of a unique combination
of features designed to promote students’ development of skills
and knowledge as well as to address the challenges faced by
teachers in teaching socio-scientific issues. Participants included
423 students in secondary education. Students in the
experimental condition received a three-lesson intervention with
the educational instrument, and students in the control condition
followed their regular science lessons. Findings indicated that the
instrument proves effective in fostering learning outcomes while
teachers benefit from the shift of managing classroom discussion
to individual guidance of students. Applying the educational
instrument in the classroom demonstrates promise in improving
student engagement and their comprehension of socio-scientific
issues.