The reseach aims to examine the effect of model-based inquiry approach practices in teaching socio-scientific issues (SSI) on the environmental awareness of 7th grade students. The study group consists of 25 seventh-grade students from the experimental group who continue at the same school and 28 students from the control group.In line with the purpose of the study, the“Human and Environment” unit, which includes SSI,was selected to apply on sample groups. The activities designed with inquiry-based enriched modeling were applied to the experimental group, while the control group students were taught the same subjects simultaneously, following the textbook and using teacher-centered instructional methods such as narration and question and-answer. In this study, the 'convergent parallel design' from the classification of mixed methods designs was employed, and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously and analyzed separately. The 'Environmental Awareness Scale' was used as a quantitative data collection tool, while model reports, various models created by students, activity papers, activity diaries, and a semi-structured interview form served as qualitative data collection tools. T-test was used in the analysis of quantitative data, and content analysis and descriptive analysis methods were used in the analysis of qualitative data. The results of the research indicated that the environmental awareness of students in the experimental group, who engaged in enriched model-based activities using the model-based inquiry approach in teaching SSI, increased. The qualitative analysis findings of the study support the quantitative analysis findings. Keywords: Socioscientific issue, Modelling, Model-based inquiry, Environmental awareness