Students’ Engagement with Socioscientific Issues: Meaning-Making, Identity, and Learning in STEM Education
A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "STEM Education".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 February 2027 | Viewed by 202
Editor
Interests: physics education; student engagement and meaning-making; inclusive and humanistic science education; STEM motivation and orientation; history and didactics of physics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In recent years, socioscientific issues (SSI) have gained increasing attention in STEM education as a means to connect scientific knowledge with real-world challenges and responsible citizenship. However, beyond students’ attitudes and participation, a key question remains: how do learners make sense of science and integrate it into their personal, social, and cultural frameworks?
This Special Issue aims to explore students’ engagement with socioscientific issues through the lenses of meaning-making, identity, and learning in STEM education. It seeks to move beyond a purely instrumental view of engagement, focusing instead on how students construct understanding, develop a sense of belonging in science, and build connections between scientific knowledge and their lived experience.
We welcome theoretical, empirical, and practice-based contributions addressing teaching and learning processes across different educational levels. Particular attention is given to approaches that emphasize interdisciplinary perspectives, narrative and embodied learning, inclusive practices, and the development of transversal competences.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: meaning-making in STEM learning; identity and belonging in science education; socioscientific issues and engagement; interdisciplinary and narrative approaches; and inclusive STEM education practices.
Dr. Leonardo Colletti
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- STEM education
- socioscientific issues
- student engagement
- meaning-making
- identity
- inclusion
- guidance-oriented teaching
- transversal competences
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