In today's educational approach, it is important for students not only to access information but also to analyze and critically evaluate it. In this context, the use of teaching methods linked to real life in the Life Science course is an effective approach that increases students' participation in active learning processes. The case study method supported by newspaper news is an innovative method that aims to provide students with the ability to both understand social events and to produce solutions through these events. The aim of this study is to design, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of teaching activities that utilize newspaper-based case studies in Life Sciences lessons. The study analyzes the quality of the products created by first-grade students in the Life Sciences course using newspaper-based case studies. In line with the study's objectives, qualitative research methods were chosen, and an action research model was adopted. The participant group consists of 41 first-grade students (22 girls and 19 boys) from a public school in the Bağcılar district of Istanbul. During the data collection process, audio recordings of the teaching sessions based on newspaper-centered case studies, student worksheets, and researcher journals were used. The dialogues from the audio recordings were transcribed verbatim, and classroom communication excerpts were analyzed based on pre-determined criteria. The student worksheets were assessed using rubrics. The findings indicate that the majority of the students' products were evaluated as "highly qualified" and "qualified." Although most first-grade students experienced this method for the first time, they were able to empathize with the characters in the case studies, evaluate the events from a moral perspective, and question the meanings of abstract concepts related to the events. Additionally, the students approached the presented case studies from different perspectives, contributing to a diverse range of responses in the classroom. In this learning environment, it was observed that students perceived and interpreted social events, criticized them and had the opportunity to compare different opinions, feelings and value judgments; it can be said that this situation will provide different benefits to each student.

Case study, Newspaper-based case study, Life Science, 1st grade students, Action research.