This study combines the fields of science communication and science education. It focuses on the ways the media covered the wild boars' invasion into the city of Haifa in Israel, their hazards and the policy of the city. We identified the problem as a socio-scientific issue (SSI) according to science education literature, and investigated the…

In today's rapidly advancing world, scientific literacy is becoming increasingly crucial. The ability to understand and critically evaluate scientific information is a key skill for navigating an increasingly complex and technology-driven society. Developing scientific literacy not only boosts individual knowledge but also promotes 21st-century…

Learners are expected to discuss and debate, using scientific evidence, the Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) that often overlap with personal experiences and ethical dilemmas. This study investigated the reasoning of 24 Grade 8 Lebanese students when arguing about a scientific scenario as opposed to an SSI. It also examined how students make…

Modern democratic societies tend to appeal to the authority of science when dealing with important challenges and solving their problems. Nevertheless, distrust in science remains widespread among the public, and, as a result, scientific voices are often ignored or discarded in favour of other perspectives. Though superficially…

Students' scientific literacy may be improved by the integration of social issues into biology courses, enabling them to make informed decisions on social issues in the context of their scientific knowledge. Additionally, this may allow students to recognize the connection between science and society. Although there are a number of benefits with…

This paper discusses the value of a Freirean liberatory perspective in community colleges, countering the traditional "second chance" or "social reproduction" viewpoints attributed by scholars to the education offered in these institutions, emphasizing its vital need in science and healthcare careers education. I explore the…

Confronted by myriad interconnected societal challenges, this paper asks: what kind of pedagogy does justice to the experience and challenge of living in a complex world? Departing from a critical reading of a preparative-logic to education, this paper emphasises students' entangledness: more-or-less consciously, students are uniquely shaped-by…

This study aims to describe components and levels of upper secondary social science students' reasoning about social problems. We consulted conceptualizations of social scientific reasoning in sociology textbooks and social science education literature, analyzed student papers, and conducted focus groups with social science teachers and teacher…

Traditional biology curricula depict science as an objective field, overlooking the important influence that human values and biases have on what is studied and who can be a scientist. We can work to address this shortcoming by incorporating "ideological awareness" into the curriculum, which is an understanding of biases, stereotypes,…

This short article reflects on 'public switching' as a methodology for research on public perspectives on potential responses to the climate crisis. There have been recent calls for early public engagement with potentially controversial science and technology. Such 'upstream' engagement is often conducted by those close to the science, presenting…

Civic argumentation refers to societal problems that may affect various scientific disciplines. Societal problems are complex and their possible solutions controversial. Making informed and reasoned decisions on these problems requires domain-specific content knowledge and domain-specific argumentation skills. This study addresses argumentation on…

Science education has historically been viewed both as a tool to advance competitiveness as well as to improve the human condition. However, science education as it is enacted at a systemic level often presents itself in over-simplified (and typically Westernized) form that does not fully lend teachers and students the opportunity to explore the…

In this study, the views and attitudes of pre-service science and social studies teachers towards socioscientific issues were examined. Descriptive research design was used in the study. The quantitative data were collected with the "Attitude Scale towards Socioscientific Issues" and the qualitative data of the research were collected…

The incorporation of socioscientific issues into science teaching to promote students' scientific literacy may require that science teachers reconsider and transform their teaching practices. This study examines the knowledge and considerations involved when two teachers incorporated socioscientific issues into their teaching, with the aim of…

This study examined how students' position on social-scientific issues (SSIs) influenced their performance on attitude toward science, science conceptual and argumentation learning. It defined two positions adopted by students regarding SSIs: affirmative and oppositional. The interactions between student position and two learning environments --…