Effect of technology-supported argumentation-based instruction in science education on seventh-grade students motivation toward science course

This investigation was targeted to determine the influence of technology-supported argumentation-based instruction (TSABI) on motivation for the science course (MSC). The investigation group was comprised of seventh-grade pupils in a public middle educational institution in Turkey. The experimental procedure was planned using a pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design and implemented for 10 weeks in 2024. Data were collected using the Motivation Scale for Science Course, which was also utilized as a pre-, post-, and follow-up assessment tool. Students selected using the convenience sampling method were assigned to three groups as control, experimental-1, and experimental-2, and were administered student-centered teaching, argumentation-based teaching (ABT), and TSABI, respectively. The pretest points of the study groups were similar at the beginning of the experimentation process; however, the posttest and follow-up test points of the pupils in the experimental-2 class were meaningfully higher than those of the pupils in the control and experimental-1 groups. While the MSC levels of the control and experimental-1 classes did not change over the investigation process, those in the experimental-2 group meaningfully developed and remained unchanged after three months. In addition, the effect size values (η2) of these analyses are in the high-level range. These results indicated that TSABI is highly effective in the development and permanence of MSC. Based on these results, ABT may be supported with technological applications to motivate students in the ABT process.