The aim of this study is to increase pre-service science teachers' awareness of climate change through online argumentation activities. The study prepared pre-service training content based on online argumentation to increase climate change awareness. For the training, activities were prepared based on online argumentation for the sub-dimensions…

Pupils' conceptual change processes that have led to long-term changes in learning processes can be very challenging and interwoven with several issues. Meanwhile, school learning is often determined as fragmented, without providing connections to pupils' different life and societal contexts. In this study, Science, Technology, and Society (STS)…

Thoughtful decision-making to resolve socioscientific issues is central to science, technology, society, and environment (STSE) education. One approach for attaining this goal involves fostering students' decision-making processes. Thus, the present study explores whether the application of decision-making strategies, combined with reflections on…

When engaging with socioscientific issues, learners act at the intersection of scientific, school, and other societal communities, drawing on knowledge, practices, and identities from both in and out of the classroom to address problems as national or global citizens. We present three case studies of high school students whose classroom…

This study aimed at improving the decision-making (DM) skills of 11th graders by incorporating a DM framework, visualisation tools, collaboration, and metacognitive guidance into a socioscientific issue context. Two classes, the experimental group (embedded metacognitive guidance, N = 42) and the comparison group (no metacognitive guidance, N =…

The aim of this research was to explore the effects of two approaches, designated as the historical and the contemporary one, on the level of students' understanding of the properties and the practical use of gases. Our research hypothesis was that the historical context of the discovery of gases and the study of their properties would deepen…

Communication skills are one of the most important competencies for 21st century global citizens. Our guiding presupposition was that socioscientific issues (SSIs) could be used as an effective pedagogical tool for promoting students' communication skills by increasing peer interactions, stimulating students' reasoning, and in constructing shared…

Science education researchers have long advocated the central role of the nature of science (NOS) for our understanding of scientific literacy. NOS is often interpreted narrowly to refer to a host of epistemological issues associated with the process of science and the limitations of scientific knowledge. Despite its importance, practitioners and…

The use of animals in biomedical research is a socio-scientific issue in which decision-making is complicated. In this article, we describe an experience involving a role play activity performed during school visits to the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) to debate animal testing. Role playing games require students to defend different…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of Science, Technology, Society (STS) issue oriented science methods course on pre-service teachers' views and perceptions toward STS issues and instruction as well as their levels of environmental literacy. The STS issue oriented curriculum was designed to help pre-service teachers improve…

This study aims at identifying the effects of the mind-mapping technique upon students' perceptions of inquiry-learning skills, academic achievement, and retention of knowledge. The study was carried out in the Science and Technology course. A quasi-experimental research design with a pre-test and post-test control group, which was selected from…

This study examines the effectiveness of the Integrated Experiential Learning Curriculum (IELC) in China. This curriculum was developed to engage Chinese elementary students in science to cultivate a scientifically literate society by focusing science instruction on practical applications of scientific knowledge. Cornerstones of the approach…

Given the current striving for "sustainability" and the corresponding paradigms shift in science, technology, R&D, environment perception, economy and politics; e.g., from unlimited growth-to-sustainable development, correction-to-prevention and passive consumption of "goods", culture and education--to active participation,…

Today's society is continuously coping with sustainability-related complex issues in the Science-Technology-Environment-Society (STES) interfaces. In those contexts, the need and relevance of the development of students' higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as question-asking, critical-thinking, problem-solving and decision-making…

The leakages in secondary level education brought forward the necessity to restructure the educational system so as to address the social and individual needs and meet the requirements of Turkey; therefore, a "reformation" study became an obligation. The formal education in Turkey starts at the age of 6, when the individual is shaped…