This study examined how students' position on social-scientific issues (SSIs) influenced their performance on attitude toward science, science conceptual and argumentation learning. It defined two positions adopted by students regarding SSIs: affirmative and oppositional. The interactions between student position and two learning environments --…

The 2019 published report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem (IPBES) reveals that the decline in species and habitats induced by human activities is continuing. School students still have difficulties to understand the meaning of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss. The underlying assumption of…

This article addresses physics teachers' views about physics teaching in upper-secondary school. Their views have been investigated nationwide through a web-based questionnaire. The questionnaire has been developed based on several published instruments and is part of an ongoing project on the role of mathematics in physics teaching at…

'Threshold concepts' have recently been identified as a key component for higher or university level teaching in science communication, concepts which can offer a 'transformative' experience amongst students, whilst also creating a sense of discomfort. In this research article, we examine data gathered via two qualitative focus groups and a…

Recent conceptualizations of science literacy, a key aim of contemporary science education, suggest defining it as a function of actual uses of science in daily life. We characterize expressions of science literacy in online authentic public discourse, using content analysis of a year's worth of widely-read Israeli online news site coverage of…

Until thirty-five years ago, climate change was almost exclusively a topic of domain scientists and deeply serious hobbyists. It was only discussed in science journals and at academic colloquia. Therefore, it should not be at all surprising that many fundamental questions persist about how to teach students about climate change science, including…

The rapid advancements in science and technology have necessitated the adaptation of biology education to enhance students' understanding and critical thinking skills, aligning with the demands of the 21st century. The development of digital modules based on the Science, Environment, Technology, and Society (SETS) framework represents an…

In this paper, I briefly review the concept of the Post-Scientific Society and then present some of the confirming evidence for the aptness of the concept. This leads to important implications for how we should think about education and workforce development in the twenty-first century. Both require the incorporation of a very high cognitive level…

Although chemistry-focused socio-scientific issues support the 'relevance' model of chemistry education, the related literature has lacked any systematic review handling them together. For this reason, this research aimed to thematically synthesize the research papers on chemistry-focused socio scientific issues (SSI) from 2008 to 2020 and…

The definition of biodiversity stated by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 was conceived as occurring on three different organizational levels: genetic, species, and ecosystems. However, current understanding of biodiversity includes other components, such as the number, abundance, composition, and spatial distribution of…

This article describes an early childhood lesson that integrated science, technology, art, social studies, math, and language. The authors' students compared robots, programmed and created stories with robots, and became robot-inventors. They also imagined how their robot-creations might impact the world--a core idea related to Science, Technology…

The declining interest in science learning, along with students' perception that science is irrelevant to their daily lives, has been identified as a significant issue. This research aimed to help students connect abstract scientific concepts with their personal and everyday experiences. To achieve this, the research utilized the metaphysical…

Purpose: A faculty development program (FDP) introduced postsecondary instructors to a module focused on the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus, a socio-hydrologic issue (SHI) and a sustainability challenge. This study aims to examine factors influencing faculty interest in adopting the instructional resources and faculty experience with the FDP,…

Connecting chemical concepts with real-world applications has been demonstrated to increase persistence, student attitudes, and performance. In a one-semester general chemistry course, most laboratory exercises were designed to have direct implications on real-world issues, and students were asked to consider these implications. Students blogged…

Science education motivates students to be problem solvers who utilize scientific knowledge for the social problems that they encounter in their lives. However, for better solutions for the problem, just knowledge of scientific concepts would not be enough because students need to approach problems aesthetically also. Understanding social,…