When individuals have questions about scientific issues, they often search the Internet. Evaluating sources of information and claims they find has become more difficult in the post-truth era. Students are often taught source evaluation techniques, but the proliferation of "fake news" has resulted in a misinformation arms race. As…

In this position paper, I examine how the history, philosophy and sociology of science (HPS) can contribute to science education in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. I discuss shortcomings in the ways that history is often used in school science, and examine how knowledge of previous pandemics might help in teaching about COVID-19. I look at the…

Certain science-related topics elicit persistent public controversy, such as routine childhood vaccinations and anthropogenic climate change. Many people are misinformed about the scientific facts underlying these issues. In response, science educators have called for improvements in the public's science literacy, but it is not clear which…

It would be easier to navigate our information world if we had a navigational system to guide us. Absent such a system, the authors of the five articles in this special issue propose different ways to help learners engage with scientific information, in light of the post-truth condition. I suggest that the contribution of these articles lies in…

The aim of this study is to determine the awareness of science teachers about socio-scientific issues, the methods and techniques used in the teaching of socio-scientific issues, and the suggestions about effective teaching of socio-scientific issues. The sample of the study consisted of 75 science teachers (50 women, 25 men) who serve in various…

In "Science Education: A Societal Imperative," Paul H. Taylor references a society shaped by scientific concepts and technological forces, the need for citizens to make informed decisions about how science and technology are used in society, and how important it is for students to be scientifically literate in order to make informed…

Human rights issues can be topics of conflict, resistance, and indifference; thus, these issues are seldom broached in traditional college STEM courses. In this article, I share process, content, and sources used to introduce college students to the biology of the singularity of race and the biology of sexual identity. One or two class meetings on…

Secondary science teachers participated in a socio-scientific issues (SSI) professional development (PD) during which they co-designed SSI curriculum units. In this qualitative multiple case study, we followed a sub-set of eight teachers who enacted their SSI units in their classrooms and agreed to participate in the study. Clarke and…

This qualitative study examines the pedagogical potential that a Cartography of Controversy (CoC) approach has in enabling secondary school students to unravel the complexity of socioscientific issues and to communicate about them. The aim was to examine the types of knowledge and the ways in which students approached uncertainty when asked to…

In this study, it is aimed to determine the metaphorical perceptions of prospective science, social studies and classroom teachers towards socioscientific issues. The study was carried out with third and fourth class prospective science (f: 41), classroom (f: 129), and social studies (f: 73) teachers of the faculty of education at a state…

This paper presents the results of a large-scale study to validate a questionnaire that measures pupils' attitudes towards socioscientific issues (the PASSI questionnaire). We define socioscientific issues (SSI) as those topics that are about complex societal and technological developments that may induce ethical dilemmas. In this study, the term…

Multiple American educational organizations such as the National Education Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the Council of Chief State School Officers have advocated for globalizing the K-12 curriculum. The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) in a position statement on international education and…

In this research, we developed and validate an instrument for assessing high-school students' perceptions of socio-scientific issues (SSI)-based learning in biology. The development of the instrument was carried out using the following four steps: item formulation, content validation, construct validation and reliability calculation. According to…

This paper describes a preliminary study of how computational methods allow us to know more about citizen science and its connection with education. Citizen science is a practice involving a general public in scientific tasks and generating knowledge and scientific results. Previous studies have shown that the education sector can take benefit of…

Science education literature has highlighted socio-scientific issues (SSI) as an effective pedagogy for teaching science in a social and political context. SSI links science education and real-world problems to engage students in real-world issues, making it ideal for teaching global climate change (GCC). Additionally, technological advances have…