Primary School 4th Grade Students’ Attitudes Toward Socioscientific Issues and Question Asking: Philosophy for Children

Abstract

In this study, the effect of philosophy for children on primary school 4th-grade students’ attitudes toward socioscientific issues (SSIs) and asking questions will be examined. Aquasi-experimental design will be used in the study. In the study, 48 (experimental group [EG]: 24, control group [CG]: 24) primary school 4th-grade students studying in a primary school in the Derince district of Kocaeli province were included in the study with convenient case sampling. The data in the study were collected with the “Question Asking Attitude Scale” and “Children’s Attitudes Toward Socioscientific Issues Scale.” The post-test scores of the experimental and CG students’ attitudes toward SSIs and asking questions were analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U test and the change between the pre- and post-test scores of the students in the experimental and CG s was analyzed by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. As a result of the analyzes, it was revealed that although both the philosophy for children intervention (EG) and the traditional reading intervention (CG) increased the primary school 4th-grade students’ attitudes toward SSIs and asking questions, it was not at a statistically significant level. However, students in the EG discussing SSIs through the philosophy for children application significantly increased their awareness of SSIs and asking questions compared to the students in the CG.