Embracing socioscientific issues-based teaching and decision-making in teacher professional development

Abstract

In recent decades, socioscientific issues (SSI) have been emerging from the interrelationship between science, technology, and society. For example, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, related decisions, like whether we need to ask people to use facemasks, is an SSI question being discussed internationally with no right or wrong answer. Controversial issues like SSI and the ability to make informed decisions need to be taught in school, which raises the question of whether teachers themselves are equipped with the skills required to make decisions on SSI. This study aimed to explore whether primary science pre-service teachers could consider multiple subject areas while making decisions on SSI in the context of abortion. Forty-two pre-service primary science teachers (third-year university students) in a genetics and biotechnology course participated in the study. The participants were asked to make decisions about abortion in three genetics-related scenarios and to explain their reasons in written reports. The SEE-SEP (science, environment, ethics/morality, sociology/culture, economy, and policy) model was adopted to explore the reasons behind the pre-service teachers' decisions. The results showed that their decisions were influenced mainly by science and ethics/morality subject areas. The results further revealed that the participants who supported abortion based their decisions on both scientific evidence and their emotional responses. On the other hand, the pre-service teachers who were against abortion based their decisions on scientific evidence and the aspect of uncertainty. Accordingly, our study recognises the importance of including both science and ethics/morality discussions in SSI-based teaching. The implications for SSI-based teaching and learning are discussed.

Fen bilimleri öğretmenlerinin enerji içerikli yerel sosyobilimsel konular hakkında informal muhakemeleri ve informal muhakemelerini etkileyen etmenler

“…In Han-Tosunoğlu and Özer's study (2022) on Covid-19 as a current socioscientific issue, it is seen that pre-service teachers prioritize ethical-based decision-making. Cebesoy and Chang Rundgren (2021), in their study with pre-service science teachers, examined the participants' decisions about abortion, which included three scenarios related to genetics, and the factors influencing these decisions. Contrary to the current study, Cebesoy and Chang Rungren (2021) concluded that participants attributed their decisions mostly to ethical and scientific factors.…”

The decision is in the details: Justifying decisions about socioscientific issues

“…We consider each authoritative subdimension to be students' sociocultural ways of knowing based on how they were described. Moreover, these authoritative groups have their own ideologies, consisting of values, ethics, morals, and philosophies (Betul Cebesoy & Chang Rundgren, 2021; Herman et al, 2022; Oulton et al, 2004; Rekker, 2021). For example, students referred to their political affiliations as their justifications for knowing, stating that because of their specific political group, they think a certain way.…”

“…Like political affiliations, religious practices are often deeply rooted within an individual's culture and social circles (Betul Cebesoy & Chang Rundgren, 2021). This may set an epistemic precedent of behavior and decision-making, especially from a young age (Betul Cebesoy & Chang Rundgren, 2021). Because epistemic beliefs are developed through experiences and various exposures to different knowledge sources, the authoritative presence of sociocultural groups need to be further studied, especially in the context of how students are evaluating information during SSI decision-making.…”

“…In the last several years, SSI decision‐making research has described how students are drawing upon various sociocultural perspectives and their moral and ethical ways of knowing when handling SSIs (Herman et al, 2018, 2022; Newton & Zeidler, 2020). Like political affiliations, religious practices are often deeply rooted within an individual's culture and social circles (Betul Cebesoy & Chang Rundgren, 2021). This may set an epistemic precedent of behavior and decision‐making, especially from a young age (Betul Cebesoy & Chang Rundgren, 2021).…”

“…In contrast, fetal tissue use in medical research may be spoken about in a more public arena, such as in political discussions or within societal conversations. Furthermore, SSIs involving fetal tissue use or women's reproductive topics elicit decision‐makers religious beliefs (Betul Cebesoy & Chang Rundgren, 2021; Oulton et al, 2004; Rekker, 2021). These authoritative sources have not been discussed within the original JFK framework.…”