It is important for students to learn concepts and using them for solving problems and further learning. Within this respect, the purpose of this study is to investigate students' abilities to apply science concepts that they have learned from Science-Technology-Society based approach or textbook oriented instruction. Current study is based on quantitative research methodology. The participants of the study are 609 students. Science classes were designed based on STS approach curriculum for 301 students, which is called as experimental group and textbook oriented instruction was followed with 308 students as a control group. The students were from sixth grade to ninth grade (age 12-15). The Iowa Assessment Handbook for the Chautauqua Program was used to collect data. The mean differences, standard divisions and t-values were calculated and used to assess pre- and post-test results. The results indicate that students, who experienced STS based curriculum through one full semester, are able to apply basic science concepts to new situations meaningfully better than students who exposed to textbook oriented instruction.