Internationally, there are calls for students to be able to use their scientific understandings to make informed decisions about the world in which they live. Using a mixed methods case study design, this study investigated the impact of behaviours and strategies used by two early career science teachers who taught argumentation about a…

The authors describe an instructional model of interdisciplinarity that aims to simultaneously develop undergraduate students' disciplinary knowledge and foster integrative skills. Two faculty members taught separate undergraduate courses in history and microbiology during which students came together at multiple points throughout the semester.…

The mining industry in Brazil, despite contributing to economic growth, is one of the human activities that negatively impacts the environment. This situation can be contextualized in discussions of several curricular chemistry topics. One way in which science, technology, society, and environmental issues can be discussed in classes is through…

Socio-scientific issues demonstrate the relationship between science, technology, and society by considering currently unresolved questions. The problem of plastics and their pollution is just one example with important implications for the planet. The aim of this paper is to revisit socio-scientific issues and see them as a way of developing…

In recent years, countries have focused specifically on improving thinking skills in their science education programs. One of the science lesson methods that can be used to activate the use of thinking processes is scientific scenarios. In this direction, the aim of the study is to investigate the effect of socioscientific subject-based…

This study investigates the effect of inquiry-based learning with socio-scientific issues on students' higher-order thinking skills in the first year based on chemistry topics. This study used a quasi-experiment design as a method. A sample of 96 students in three classes was selected and was divided into two groups. An experimental group used two…

Argument skills play a crucial role in fostering students' scientific literacy. Students who possess such skills can employ reason and evidence to make decisions. This classroom action research was aimed at investigating the best practices for teaching chemistry to promote argument skills through socioscientific issues (SSI). The participants were…

The social roles and responsibilities expected from citizens are increasing due to changing global living conditions. Science education is expected to prepare conscious and sensitive students because today's students are the adults of the future. To do so, the main pre-requisite is quality teacher education. In the past decade, one of the most…

The global scale of climate change may seem beyond many high school students' comprehension. To complicate matters, climate change has emerged as a political issue that pits candidates, neighbors, and sometimes teachers and students against each other (Kahan 2015). The "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) call on…

Argumentation has long been promoted as a core scientific practice in which students should engage, yet science classrooms still often omit it. One remedy is to incorporate socioscientific issues (SSIs) in the curricula. SSIs are open-ended and complex, typically subject to multiple perspectives and solutions. These issues, influenced by science…

This study aims to explore students' argumentation and decision-making relating to an authentic socioscientific issue (SSI)--the problem of environmental toxins in fish from the Baltic Sea. A multi-disciplinary instructional module, designed in order to develop students' skills to argue about complex SSI, was successfully tested. Seven science…

This paper argues the possible simultaneous development and transfer of students' argumentation skills from one socio-scientific issue to another in a Confucian classroom. In Malaysia, the Chinese vernacular schools follow a strict Confucian philosophy in the teaching and learning process. The teacher talks and the students listen. This case study…

This paper considers opportunities for teachers to use an argumentation pedagogy in order to develop students' geoscience thinking skills. Educational argumentation principles and procedures are outlined. Argumentation can foster both student and teacher motivation and interest in the context of accessible and well-structured geoscience content.…

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 topics of earthquakes and volcanoes are important to children but are often missing from elementary science textbooks. This document is a part of "The Natural Disaster Series" and is an attempt to supplement elementary science programs with lessons and student activities. Reasoning skills are also stressed throughout the document.…