Science continuously interacts with the social environment. Science develops with social needs, and society develops and changes with scientific advances. These changes and developments may cause dilemmas in society. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the improvements among pre-service science teachers in terms of socio-scientific…

In this program profile, we describe the development of a new track in Science Communication (SciComm) for an existing Professional Writing minor offered by an independent Writing Program. We identify the international and local exigencies for improving SciComm; the resources needed for this new track--both those already in place and those…

In this study, the effects of the STEM activities integrated with socio-scientific issues on students' 21st century skills were investigated. In this research, nested mixed design was used. The study group of this research consisted of 16 middle school students who studied in the seventh grade of a public school in an eastern province of Turkey.…

An increasingly important aim in education is to develop students capable of addressing complex, interdependent problems. This study integrates theories of situated learning, authentic science research, socioscientific issues, and interdisciplinary STEM education to construct a program for high school students. Drawn from Vygotsky and Dewey's…

The aim of this study was to investigate how mobile outdoor learning supports the development of students' conceptual understanding about local socio-environmental problems and students' attitudes towards the learning activity. To explore these aspects, a study following a design-based research model was designed and conducted with 68 eighth-ninth…

Scientific knowledge is necessary to make informed decisions about many social issues, but some of the public is skeptical of science and scientific expertise. Teacher education programs are one way to address distrust in science in this generation and the next. Socioscientific issues (SSI) have been advocated as important for teaching about the…

Background: An overarching goal of school science education is to prepare young people for a rapidly changing and complex world. Middle school science students need more than a basic understanding of science concepts in preparation for further study. Rather, they need the skills to question and evaluate evidence and make decisions about complex…

Socioscientific-issues based instruction can promote science to students as a tool for necessary learning in the disruptive world. This instruction helps students critique and response as its nature of science, gaining higher-ordered thinking, and discussing with scientific reasoning. The objectives of this study were to compare learning…

The integration of socioscientific issues (SSI) into science teaching requires that teachers manage classroom discussions in which various perspectives are considered and students' contributions are recognized. The present study aimed to provide knowledge of how classroom discussions on SSI can be structured and implemented to pursue specific…

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…

Environmental sustainability education should create eco-awareness and produce pro-environmental behaviors. Traditional instructional methods create eco-awareness but do not make people act. Purposefully designed digital games for attitudinal instruction provide cognitive knowledge, engage learners emotionally by showing the consequences of…

Adopting an explicit and reflective approach to the teaching of the history and philosophy of science is useful in promoting high school students' understanding of the nature of science. Whereas the history of science is usually signposted clearly in the school science curriculum, the philosophy of science is considered to be embedded in and…

Individuals have different opinions and views on many socio-scientific issues such as stem cells, influenza vaccine, cloning, nuclear power plants, and organ transplantation that affect social life. Scientific attitudes and scientific literacy of individuals can affect their approach to socio-scientific issues. This research aims to reveal how…

This paper illustrates a year-long case study investigating in-service teachers' needs and mentor's practices in implementing cutting-edge research science topics as nanotechnology and plastics in the ocean in primary education. In a Community of Learners design and with the support of a mentor, ten primary teachers implemented in 6th grade…

Students' argumentation skills are considered a central tool to contribute to scientific controversies in the science classroom. Scientific controversies of social relevance (socioscientific issues; SSI) are subject to multiple viewpoints that are often rooted in diverse disciplines. However, the relationship between issue familiarity and…