Nature of science (NOS) is a global conception of the infrastructure of science and, therefore, forms the foundation for teaching and learning science, especially for preservice teachers who are expected to have the proper understanding of NOS to thoughtfully emphasize NOS within their instruction to students. However, studies investigating UAE…

This research aimed to understand the features of the informal reasoning skills performed by students who debated the socio-scientific contentious issue of breastfeeding versus milk formula during an Indonesian biology lesson. A class of 30 students in grade 11 discussed this issue by participating in a role play represented by four organisations…

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…

Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) appear to be a viable means for promoting students' development of science literacy, providing relevance to scientific concepts for students to apply their understandings and make sense of science-related issues. However, the question remains as to how their reasoning competencies regarding these issues interact with…

Promoting socio-scientific issue (SSI)-based instruction in Indonesian science classrooms requires competent science teachers. To understand teachers' perceptions about the implementation of SSI-based instruction, a case study involving four biology teachers engaged in a teacher professional development program was conducted. The program consisted…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact a specific socio-scientific inquiry (SSI) unit has on student achievement and attitudes over the course of two years with two different implementations of the unit. Specifically, this study addressed the following research question: What impact does participation in an SSI unit have on student…

Science classrooms continue to privilege narrow conceptions of science, and students of color are frequently identified by teachers as disengaged or uninterested in science--part of a deficit narrative socially constructed over time. In this design-based research study, I explored the development and implementation of culturally relevant and…

Contemporary curricula are increasingly focused on broader framings of student outcomes such as 'competencies', 'capabilities' and '21st century skills', as we realise that declarative disciplinary knowledge no longer, on its own, confers the capacity to deal with the complex and fast-changing world that students are now entering. In mathematics,…

Today, many countries have revised their science curricula to ensure an effective science-learning environment and Turkey is one of such countries. Thanks to the revisions within this scope, socio-scientific issues were integrated into the curriculum. Their presence has brought about the requirement of knowing what socio-scientific issues are and…

Despite efforts to increase teaching of biotechnology worldwide, there are concerns that public literacy of genetic technologies remains insufficient. Improved education strategies are expected to empower individuals to make informed decisions about biotechnology. To evaluate the teaching and learning of this complex topic, qualitative assessment…

Science is a way of knowing about the world. At once a process, a product, and an institution, science enables people to both engage in the construction of new knowledge as well as use information to achieve desired ends. Access to science--whether using knowledge or creating it--necessitates some level of familiarity with the enterprise and…

Although the goal of developing school students' understanding of nature of science (NOS) has long been advocated, there is still a lack of research that focuses on probing how science teachers, a kind of major stakeholder in NOS instruction, perceive the values of teaching NOS. Through semi-structured interviews, this study investigated the views…

This study used video vignettes of historical episodes from documentary films as a context and instructional tool to promote pre-service science teachers' (PSTs) conceptions of the nature of science (NOS). The participants received explicit-reflective NOS instruction, and were introduced to techniques to be able to use scenes from documentary…

For science teachers using the discourse of socioscientific issues (SSI), it is important to make a decision as to whether when and how to disclose their own positions. The existing limited literature shows that science teachers prefer one of four roles during SSI discourse: sticker to facts, imposer, democracy advocator, and committed…

The primary focus of this article is to illustrate how teachers can use contemporary socio-scientific issues to teach students about nature of scientific knowledge as well as address the science subject matter embedded in the issues. The article provides an initial discussion about the various aspects of nature of scientific knowledge that are…