Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Enacting a Socioscientific Issues Classroom: Transformative Transformations

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Socio-scientific Issues in the Classroom

Part of the book series: Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education ((CTISE,volume 39))

Abstract

Sociomoral discourse, argumentation, and debate are necessary elements in a socioscientific issues-centered classroom. While these factors are fundamental in realizing a socioscientific issues (SSI) curriculum, related pedagogical factors, such as a commitment to inquiry, enacting opportunities for the cultivation of character, and conceptualizing the role of the nature of science (NOS) are consistent with progressive views of science teaching and scientific literacy (Sadler & Zeidler, 2009; Zeidler & Sadler, 2010). Further, classroom research has demonstrated that a fully enacted SSI approach to science education becomes a transformative process for participating students and their teacher. Successful transformation occurs when the teacher-centered approach shifts to a student-centered classroom and the science curriculum becomes issues-driven. Further, the results of this shift may be said to be transformative when students’ discovery of scientific concepts emerges out of socioscientific issues.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abd-El-Khalick, F. (2006). Socioscientific issues in pre-college science classrooms. In D. L. Zeidler (Ed.), The role of moral reasoning and discourse on socioscientific issues in science education (pp. 41–61). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Applebaum, S., Zeidler, D., & Chiodo, K. L. (2010). Using socioscientific issues as context for teaching concepts and content. In R. E. Yager (Ed.). Science for resolving issues/problems. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press: (pp. 147–163).

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter Magolda, M. B. (1999). Creating contexts for learning and self-author(s)ship: Constructive-developmental pedagogy. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Council on Competitiveness. (2005). National innovation initiative summit and report: Thriving in a world of challenge and change. Washington, DC: Council on Competitiveness.

    Google Scholar 

  • Driver, R., Leach, J., Millar, R., & Scott, P. (1996). Young people’s images of science. Bristol, PA: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Driver, R., Newton, P., & Osborne, J. (2000). Establishing the norms of scientific argumentation in classrooms. Science & Education, 84(3), 287–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fensham, P. J. (2009). Real world contexts in PISA science: Implications for context-based science education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(8), 884–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fowler, S. R., Zeidler, D. L., & Sadler, T. D. (2009). Moral sensitivity in the context of socioscientific issues in high school science students. International Journal of Science Teacher Education, 31(2), 279–296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, T. F. (1999). Voices: The educational formation of conscience. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, P. M., & Baxter Magolda, M. B. (1996). A developmental perspective on learning. Journal of College Student Development, 37, 163–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing reflective judgment: Understanding and promoting intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (2002). The reflective judgment model: Twenty years of research on epistemic cognition. In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 37–61). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (2004). Reflective judgment: Theory and research on the development of epistemic assumptions through adulthood. Educational Psychologist, 39(1), 5–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keefer, M. W. (2003). Moral reasoning and case-based approaches to ethical instruction in science. In D. L. Zeidler (Ed.), The role of moral reasoning on socioscientific issues and discourse in science education (pp. 241–259). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolstø, S. D. (2001). To trust or not to trust,…’-pupils’ ways of judging information encountered in a socio-scientific issue. International Journal of Science Education, 23, 877–901.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolstø, S. D. (2006). Patterns in students’ argumentation confronted with a risk-focused socio-scientific issue. International Journal of Science Education, 28(14), 1689–1716.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Labaree, D. F. (2003). The peculiar problems of preparing educational researchers. Educational Researcher, 32(4), 13–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, M. P., & Zeidler, D. L. (2010). Moral-ethical character and science education: Ecojustice ethics through socioscientific issues (SSI). In D. Tippins, M. Mueller, M. van Eijck, & J. Adams (Eds.), Cultural studies and environmentalism: The confluence of ecojustice, place-based (science) education, and indigenous knowledge systems (pp. 105–128). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Narum, J. (2008). Transforming undergraduate programs in science, technology, engineering, mathematics: Looking back and looking ahead. Liberal Education, 94(2), 12–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pedretti, E. (2003). Teaching science, technology, society and environment (STSE) education: Preservice teachers’ philosophical and pedagogical landscapes. In D. L. Zeidler (Ed.), The role of moral reasoning on socioscientific issues and discourse in science education. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe, M. (1997). Pupil decision-making about socioscientific issues with the science curriculum. International Journal of Science Education., 19(2), 167–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe, M., & Millar, R. (2009). Teaching for understanding of science in context: evidence from the pilot trials of the twenty first century science courses. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(8), 945–959.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, T. D. (2004). Informal reasoning regarding socioscientific issues: A critical review of research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(5), 513–536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, T. D. (2006). Promoting discourse and argument in science teacher education. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 17(4), 323–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, T. D., & Zeidler, D. L. (2005). The significance of content knowledge for informal reasoning regarding socioscientific issues: Applying Genetics knowledge to genetic engineering issues. Science & Education, 89(1), 71–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, T. D., & Zeidler, D. L. (2009). Scientific literacy, PISA, and socioscientific discourse: Assessment for progressive aims of science education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(8), 909–921.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, K. A., & Zeidler, D. L. (2007). Promoting discourse about socioscientific issues through scaffolded inquiry. International Journal of Science Education, 29(11), 1387–1410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeidler, D. L., & Keefer, M. (2003). The role of moral reasoning and the status of socioscientific issues in science education: Philosophical, psychological and pedagogical considerations. In D. L. Zeidler (Ed.), The role of moral reasoning and discourse on socioscientific issues in science education (pp. 7–38). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeidler, D. L., & Sadler, T. D. (2008). The role of moral reasoning in argumentation: Conscience, character and care. In S. Erduran & M. Pilar Jimenez-Aleixandre (Eds.), Argumentation in science education: Perspectives from classroom-based research (pp. 201–216). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeidler, D. L., & Sadler, D. L. (2011). An inclusive view of scientific literacy: Core issues and future directions of socioscientific reasoning (pp. 176–192). In C. Linder, L. Ostman, & P. Wickman (Eds.), Promoting scientific literacy: Science education research in transaction. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeidler, D. L., Sadler, T. D., Applebaum, S., & Callahan, B. E. (2009). Advancing reflective judgment through socioscientific issues. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(1), 74–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeidler, D. L., Sadler, T. D., Simmons, M. L., & Howes, E. V. (2005). Beyond STS: A research-based framework for socioscientific issues education. Science & Education, 89(3), 357–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeidler, D. L., Walker, K. A., Ackett, W. A., & Simmons, M. L. (2002). Tangled up in views: Beliefs in the nature of science and responses to socioscientific dilemmas. Science & Education, 86(3), 343–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zohar, A., & Nemet, F. (2002). Fostering students’ knowledge and argumentation skills through dilemmas in human genetics. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39, 35–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Dana L. Zeidler

  2. College of Education, Palm Harbor University High School, Palm Harbor, FL, USA

    Scott M. Applebaum

  3. School of Teaching and Learning, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Troy D. Sadler

Authors
  1. Dana L. Zeidler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Scott M. Applebaum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Troy D. Sadler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dana L. Zeidler .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611, Florida, USA

    Troy D. Sadler

Appendix 1. SSI Units, Scientific Contexts, Systems and Concept Relationships

Appendix 1. SSI Units, Scientific Contexts, Systems and Concept Relationships

figure a_16

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Zeidler, D.L., Applebaum, S.M., Sadler, T.D. (2011). Enacting a Socioscientific Issues Classroom: Transformative Transformations. In: Sadler, T. (eds) Socio-scientific Issues in the Classroom. Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1159-4_16

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation