Few empirical studies in Science Education have investigated the contributions of integrating scientific practices such as argumentation and modelling. In this article, I examine the characteristics of high school students' argumentative dialogues in different modelling situations. From this, I discuss the influences of modelling and the nature of…

When secondary school students were asked about the socioscientific issue of using sodium fluoroacetate (1080) poison to control New Zealand's possum pests, they provided a wide range of responses. Their responses showed that they considered this method of control to be risky and contentious. Such contentious issues are an example of the…

Preservice secondary science teachers often experience science learning in narrow and marginalizing ways in their science preparation. These experiences cause harm, particularly for preservice teachers of color. They also limit the disciplinary resources they can develop for later teaching science in ways that value and sustain their students'…

In recent years, there has been growing interest in exploring argumentation about socio-scientific issues (SSI) in the classroom to improve students' scientific literacy. Thus, this research aims to investigate how intervention based on argumentation about SSI affects secondary students' patterns of informal reasoning and reasoning quality. The…

Amid a broader sociopolitical milieu of division, disagreement, and uncivil debate, this study investigates instances of disagreement among students in a high school science classroom as they attempt to answer the civic question of "what should we do" about climate change, a long contentious topic in the USA. Using a theoretical…

Socioscientific issues (SSIs) can provide a context to address societal decision-making processes in school. In recent years, studies have demonstrated that one effective way to deal with these topics is through role play. However, role plays may induce an unreflected attitude change based on the roles the participants take on, which raises…

Research has revealed that teachers find teaching and assessing socioscientific argumentation (SSA) to be challenging. In this study, ten pre-service science teachers (PSTs) tested a new Practical Assessment of Socioscientific Argumentation Model (PASM) that was developed to enhance skills in assessing SSA. The models' design is based on the…

Data and computational literacies empower youth to be active participants and future leaders in our increasingly data-driven society. We conducted a design-based research project in which a small group (n = 5) of high school youth from diverse backgrounds learned how to code and create data visualizations and stories with public data about climate…

Recent research suggests that integrating model-based learning and socioscientific issue based instruction helps students construct meaningful learning in science classrooms. Thus, this paper presents a unit plan that integrates model-based learning and socioscientific issues. The focus of the unit is the white butterfly which is a local pest. A…

The Irish lower secondary science curriculum emphasises the development of scientific literacy through the use of inquiry teaching and learning approaches. The Science in Society Investigation assessment in this curriculum requires students to carry out inquiry into socioscientific issues (SSI). This research presents two case studies exploring…

Background: This study examined the effect of computer-supported collaborative argumentation (CSCA) on secondary school students' understanding of socio-scientific issues (SSI). Engaging students in collaborative argumentation is known to help with deepening their understanding of SSI. Methods: In this study, a mixed-method design is used to…

The current study is about students' engagement with socioscientific issues (SSI). We explored the use of sources of knowledge about SSI and attitudes toward SSI among a sample of 1676 Dutch 8- to 16-year-old students. First, we developed a questionnaire that measured students' use of four sources of knowledge about SSI: Social Resources (online…

In an increasingly complex media environment, science educators must help prepare students to make decisions on science-related issues that are in the best interest of themselves and their communities. Researchers have suggested the use of socioscientific issues (SSI) to teach students how to think scientifically and to make good decisions…

Socially engaged engineering provides for student learning of the design, analysis, and practices of engineering as well as the ways that engineering is situated in sociocultural contexts. This paper provides a conceptual framework regarding socially engaged engineering for K-8 educators, researchers, and curriculum designers. The framework…

Teachers often struggle to facilitate open discussions about evolution when they perceive it to be at odds with cultural and religious norms. Little is understood about classroom discourse and teacher-student interactions during the teaching of evolution. This study analyzed classroom discourse and teacher-student exchanges in a 10th-grade biology…