Both evolution and climate change have broad scientific consensus, and yet they are the most contested scientific concepts in the US K-12 education system. This study aimed to explore trends in proposed US state legislation employed from 2003 to 2023 by anti-evolution and anti-climate change education movements to constrain the teaching of these…

In this study, the purpose is to develop and illustrate a method that facilitates investigations of students' learning processes in classroom discussions about socioscientific issues. The method, called transactional argumentation analysis, combines a transactional perspective on meaning making based on John Dewey's pragmatic philosophy and an…

This paper presents a normative pragmatics analysis of students' use of science content in eight socioscientific group discussions about human gene therapy. The specific focus of the paper is on the argumentative role that invocations of science had in the dialectics of the discussions. The analysis suggests that science content occasionally…

Although teacher educators have achieved some success in improving teachers' understanding of the nature of science (NOS), helping teachers teach NOS has proved a much greater challenge. Currently, there are few examples in the literature of teachers who effectively teach NOS, and fewer still that rely on student outcomes as a measure of teachers'…

Risk has now become a feature of science curricula in many industrialized countries. While risk is conceptualized within a number of different theoretical frameworks, the predominant model used in examination specifications is a utility model in which risk calculations are deemed to be objective through technical expert assessment and where the…

Science education researchers increasingly focus on the use of controversial science topics in the classroom to prepare students to make personal and societal decisions about these issues. However, researchers infrequently investigate the diverse ways in which students learn about controversial science topics outside the classroom, and how these…

Context-based and science-technology-society (STS) approaches to teaching science in high school have become widely used over the past two decades. They aspire to foster more positive attitudes to science while, at the same time, provide a sound basis of scientific understanding for further study. This paper reviews the detailed research evidence…

Examines how college-educated adults (n=135) from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds perceive the impact of evolutionary theory on individuals and society. Identifies a continuum of perspectives ranging from strong creationist to strong evolutionist. Reports differences between evolutionists and creationists in their prior exposure to…

Discusses the need for science in developing countries. The development of the Western industrialized countries is a persuasive argument for the role of science and technology in development. Western modern science knowledge and indigenous knowledge are both necessary in science education. (SAH)

Considers what level of understanding of the nature of science students should experience to become both intelligent consumers of scientific information and effective citizens. Proposes that most precollege teachers should attempt to teach students how to use scientific descriptors to judge the relative merits of knowledge claims instead of…

Elaborates on the components of five domains of a taxonomy for science educators' concerns for teaching and curriculum development: information, process, creativity, attitude, and applications domain. (YP)

Describes a science teacher's views of Science-Technology-Society (STS) instruction after implementing a two-semester STS-oriented science course in a Taiwanese high school. Concludes that the heavy content load of Taiwan's national curriculum, regular cross-class standard tests, lack of peer or administrative support, resource limitations in the…

Analyzes the science frameworks of 49 states and the District of Columbia to determine the emphasis given to evolution in these documents at the middle and secondary levels. Collectively, the 50 frameworks emphasized evolution in a manner that suggests that if the public's support for standards-based curricula is a reality, the study of evolution…

Describes the Iowa science-technology-society (STS) models and goals. Characterizes and gives examples of using the STS approach in classrooms. Reports the results of four studies that have assessed the outcomes of learning with STS instruction. Identifies some problems concerning the future use of STS in schools. (PR)

This article provides an analysis of data collected in a study of six teachers reflecting upon their evaluation practices as they contemplated implementing a Science-Technology-Society (STS) curriculum. Authors conclude that teacher evaluation methods are dependent upon personal understandings of the assessment process developed from teaching…