Discussion is widely held to be the pedagogical approach most appropriate to the exploration of controversial issues in the classroom, but surprisingly little attention has been given to the questions of why it is the preferred approach and how best to facilitate it. Here we address ourselves to both questions. We begin by clarifying the concept of discussion and justifying it as an approach to the teaching of controversial issues. We then report on a recent empirical study of the Perspectives on Science AS‐level course, focusing on what it revealed about aids and impediments to discussion of controversial ethical issues.
Citizens participating in contemporary socio-scientific issues (SSI) need to draw on local knowledge and personal experience. If curricular developments in the teaching of controversial SSI are to reflect contemporary notions of citizenship then the personal narrative is an indispensable instrument in bridging the gap between the local/personal and the emergent science. In the context of controversy personal narratives help contending parties to see events in the light of those who do not share their views. A goal-oriented protagonist is the narrator in the personal narrative, which consists of three components -situation-event-reaction-the reaction being an evaluation of the event. Promoting personal narratives in sciencebased curricula is considered problematic given the dominant role of science's explanatory frameworks. An inter-disciplinary approach is proposed based on McLaughlin's levels of disagreement.
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