This study was part of a project to develop science and technology (STS) issue investigation and action materials with the potential for use across science and social studies classes at the secondary level. Special emphasis was given to learning teachers' perspectives on the development of a unit on the impact of pesticides on society. Seven areas…

This descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the relative emphasis secondary school teachers place on the science teaching goals of the 1960s which focused on processes and techniques designed to produce scientists, as compared to the goals of the 1980s which give priority to the relationship of science and technology to society. An eight-item…

The rationale and the methodology used in a study of high school graduates' viewpoints on science-technology-society (STS) topics are reviewed in this paper. The study employed the instrument, Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS), which required students to write an argumentative paragraph responding to one of 46 statements about an STS…

This study qualitatively investigates the taboo and "noa" topics of Science-Technology-Society (STS) taught in two local cultures. Taboos are beliefs that constrain behavior by making those behaviors perceived as threatening by the members of the social group forbidden and improper for discussion. "Noa" is the Polynesian word…

This paper reports the results of a survey of 1,200 teachers' views on technology. Using a combination of empirical methods, teachers' responses to statements about technology in contemporary society were examined. This paper describes the following: (1) new statements about technology based on the sociology of technology; (2) teachers' responses…