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Abstract Socioscientific issues (SSI) are problems involving the deliberate use of scientific topics that require students to engage in dialogue, discussion, and debate. The purpose of this project is to utilize issues that are personally meaningful and engaging to students, require the use of evidence-based reasoning, and provide a context for scientific information. Social justice is the pursuit of equity and fairness in society by ensuring that all individuals have opportunities to challenge and address inequalities and injustices to create a more just and equitable society for all (Killen et al. Human Development 65:257–269, 2021). By connecting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts to personally meaningful contexts, SSI can empower students to consider how STEM-based issues reflect moral principles and elements of virtue in their own lives and the world around them (Zeidler et al. Science Education 89:357–377, 2005). We employed a qualitative research design to answer the following questions: (1) In what ways, if any, did teachers help students grow their knowledge and practices on social justice through socioscientific issues? (2) In teachers’ perceptions, what components of SSI did students learn and what are their challenges? (3) In teachers’ perceptions, what are students’ stances on social justice? After completing the first year and second-year professional development programs, grades 6–12 STEM teachers were asked to complete a reflection on classroom artifacts. Teachers were asked to select student artifacts (e.g. assignments, projects, essays, videos, etc.) that they thought exemplified the students’ learning of SSI and stance on social justice. Based on 21 teacher-submitted examples of exemplar student work, we saw the following example pedagogies to engage their students on social justice: (a) making connections to real-world experiences, (b) developing a community project, (c) examining social injustice, and (d) developing an agency to influence/make changes. According to teachers, the most challenging SSI for students was elucidating their own position/solution, closely followed by employing reflective scientific skepticism. Moreover, the students exemplified reflexivity, metacognition, authentic activity, and dialogic conversation. Using SSI in classrooms allows students to tackle real-world problems, blending science and societal concerns. This approach boosts understanding of scientific concepts and their relevance to society. Identifying methods like real-world connections and examining social injustice helps integrate social justice themes into science education through SSI. Overall, SSI promotes interdisciplinary learning, critical thinking, and informed decision-making, enriching science education socially. This study highlights the value of integrating SSI in science education to engage students with social justice.
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It can’t just be science: preservice elementary science teachers' ideas for teaching a social justice science issue
Abstract Science is often perceived as an objective, apolitical, and static body of knowledge, rather than a set of practices for understanding how and why the world works. Teaching science through social justice science issues (SJSIs) can facilitate a more complex and nuanced understanding of science while supporting children to recognize how science can be a tool to either oppress or push against injustice. Integrating science and social justice movements, however, can be challenging for early career teachers, and particularly elementary teachers. For this qualitative study, five preservice elementary teachers grappled with how they might advise a colleague to teach science through one social justice science issue—a train derailment in a nearby state. In foregrounding an SJSI for a hypothetical lesson, teachers shared affordances and challenges to this work, illuminating and exploring three boundaries: (1) boundaries of what counts as science; (2) boundaries of one’s own knowledge; and (3) boundaries of one’s role as a teacher. I discuss implications for teacher education programs, with specific emphasis on supporting teachers to engage in transdisciplinary work and their own critical reflection.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2246607
- PAR ID:
- 10598926
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer Science + Business Media
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Cultural Studies of Science Education
- ISSN:
- 1871-1502
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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