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Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 28467

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yael Shwartz

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Guest Editor

Department of Science Teaching, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Interests: socio-scientific issues; teacher professional development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Dürdane Bayram-Jacobs

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Eindhoven School of Education (ESoE), Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Interests: socio-scientific issues (SSI); developing citizenship skills in science education; pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)

Dr. Maria Evagorou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Education, School of Education, University of Nicosia, Nicosia 2417, Cyprus
Interests: socio-scientific issues; teacher professional development in science education; dialogue and argumentation, citizenship

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The role of education in addressing sustainable development goals to build sustainable and resilient societies is increasingly recognized. In particular, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, ‘Quality Education’, specifies a need to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all” (United Nations, 2020). In this respect, the main goal of education is to prepare young people for life beyond school. Recently, there have been more and more voices calling for the acquisition of competences that will help students become responsible citizens. As such, they are expected to think scientifically and apply scientific knowledge, principals and competencies in everyday decision making. Some examples of such skills are argumentation, critical thinking, problem-solving, interrogating media, assessing the validity of information sources, thinking ethically, collaborating, etc.

Climate change, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and other global challenges (health issues, global ethics, energy, etc.) have made clear that citizenship skills are more important than ever. Responsible citizens are expected to develop an accurate understanding of an issue, have a clear insight about the situation, evaluate proposed solutions and make informed decisions accordingly. In order to develop citizenship skills, the incorporation of socio-scientific issues (SSI) has been proven to be useful by several science education scholars and teachers (e.g., Ratcliffe and Grace, 2003; Zeidler et al., 2005; Sadler, 2011; Bayram-Jacobs et al., 2019). Unfortunately, despite a number of studies on socio-scientific issues (SSI) and related competencies during the last decade (i.e., Evagorou and Osborne, 2013; Evagorou and Dillon, 2020; Sadler and Dawson, 2011; Wiblom et al., 2017; Zohar and Nemet, 2002), the public discussions taking place on social media around COVID-19 support the assumption that we have failed as science educators to prepare people to gain the relevant competencies.

The aim of this Special Issue is therefore to provide an international platform for a wide range of science educators and researchers to present and discuss recent studies regarding the integration of sustainability topics and goals in science education by introducing socio-scientific issues (SSI), as well as research regarding the development of related competencies, with an emphasis on how SSI can support the development of sustainable development goals and responsible citizenship. In this Special Issue, we wish to include empirical studies that extend our methodological, theoretical and practical understanding, and to hopefully inform education policy and practice. Therefore, we encourage researchers to submit empirical work from various contexts, education levels (e.g., primary, secondary, higher education, teacher professional development), perspectives and methodological approaches.

References:

United Nations. 2020. Sustainable Development Goals. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations. Available online: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Ratcliffe, M.; Grace, M. Science education for citizenship: Teaching socio-scientific issues. McGraw-Hill Education (UK): London, UK, 2003.

Zeidler, D.L.; Sadler, T.D.; Simmons, M.L.; Howes, E.V. Beyond STS: A research‐based framework for socioscientific issues education. Science Education 2005, 89, 357–377.‏

Bayram-Jacobs, D.; Wieske, G.; Henze, I. A chemistry lesson for citizenship: Students’ use of different perspectives in decision-making about the use and sale of laughing gas. Education Sciences 2019, 9, 100.‏

Sadler, T.D. Socio-scientific issues-based education: What we know about science education in the context of SSI. In Socio-scientific Issues in the Classroom, Springer: Dordrecht, the Netherlands, 2011; pp. 355–369.

‏Evagorou, M.; Osborne, J. Exploring young students' collaborative argumentation within a socioscientific issue. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 2013, 50, 209–237.

Evagorou, M.; Dillon. J. Socio-scientific Issues as Promoting Responsible Citizenship and the Relevance of Science. In Science Teacher Education for Responsible Citizenship. Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education; Evagorou, M., Nielsen, J., Dillon J., Eds.; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020; Volume 52. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40229-7_1.

Sadler, T.D.; Dawson, V.M.; Klosterman, M.L.; Eastwood, J.L.; Zeidler, D.L. Metalogue: Issues in the conceptualization of research constructs and design for SSI related work. In Socio-scientific Issues in the Classroom, Springer: Dordrecht, the Netherlands, 2011; pp. 79–87.

Wiblom, J.; Rundgren, C.J.; Andrée, M. Developing Students’ Critical Reasoning About Online Health Information: a Capabilities Approach. Research in Science Education 2019, 49, 1759–1782.‏

Zohar, A.; Nemet, F. Fostering students' knowledge and argumentation skills through dilemmas in human genetics. Journal of Research in Science Teaching: The Official Journal of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching 2002, 39, 35–62.‏

Dr. Yael Shwartz
Dr. Dürdane Bayram-Jacobs
Dr. Maria Evagorou
Guest Editors

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Keywords

sustainability
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
socio-scientific issues (SSI)
citizenship competencies
science education
responsible citizenship

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

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28 pages, 1071 KiB

Open AccessArticle

From Ideal to Practical—A Design of Teacher Professional Development on Socioscientific Issues

by Emil Eidin and Yael Shwartz

Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 11394; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411394 - 22 Jul 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2211

Abstract

As consensus towards teaching science for citizenship grows, so grows the need to prepare science teachers to pursue this goal. Implementation of socioscientific issues (SSI) is one of the most prominent theoretical and practical frameworks developed to support scientific literacy and preparing students as informed citizens. However, implementation of SSI holds great challenges for science teachers. Longitudinal professional development (PD) programs were designed to overcome these barriers, yet at the same time many educational systems lack the resources, both in terms of budget and time to meet such intense programs. In this paper, we introduce a design of a short-term PD course that was conducted in Israel. The PD was specifically tailored for secondary school science teachers, with the goal to support them in implementing SSI. Employing an educational design research framework, we tested our PD design over a span of three consecutive years. Through an iterative design process, we were able to make modifications to the program based on data collected and analyzed from the previous year. The structure of the PD is based on four SSI aspects: (a) introduction to SSI, (b) argumentation in SSI context, (c) SSI operationalization, and (d) science communication. In this paper, we provide detailed explanations for each of these aspects, justify the changes made to the PD design, and highlight both promising and less effective strategies for engaging teachers in SSI. Ultimately, we propose a comprehensive SSI PD model that can effectively prepare teachers to take their initial steps in implementing SSI, while remaining adaptable to diverse educational systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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26 pages, 2721 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Capturing Pedagogical Design Capacity of STEM Teacher Candidates: Education for Sustainable Development through Socioscientific Issues

by Tuba Stouthart, Dury Bayram and Jan van der Veen

Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 11055; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411055 - 14 Jul 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1660

Abstract

Even though the urge to transform educational practices towards sustainability has been widely recognized, teachers struggle with implementing socioscientific issues (SSI) such as climate change and loss of biodiversity into their lessons. While the research on SSI grows, the literature remains limited in terms of (i) the use of SSI in facilitating education for sustainable development (ESD), and (ii) teachers’ professional learning of SSI-based instruction as a means towards ESD. In this empirical study, we aimed at characterizing five STEM pre-service teachers’ pedagogical design capacity (PDC) by focusing on what resources they use and how they interact with these resources to design SSI-based instruction to teach about the sustainable development goals (SDGs). For this qualitative study, the data were collected through field notes, reflection reports, and semi-structured interviews. Our results reveal that pre-service teachers referred to teacher resources the most, followed by collaborative resources, and instructional resources during their design. Even though their use of resources shows strong connections between SSI and their pedagogical content knowledge, preservice teachers’ consideration regarding assessment remains inadequate. Furthermore, our study shows that professional development sessions have the potential to foster pre-service teachers’ use of PDC resources to address ESD. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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23 pages, 1530 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Fifth Dimension in Socio-Scientific Reasoning: Promoting Decision-Making about Socio-Scientific Issues in a Community

by Hava Ben-Horin, Yael Kali and Tali Tal

Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9708; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129708 - 17 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1441

Abstract

Making informed decisions about socio-scientific issues requires socio-scientific reasoning, which is highly challenging for students. This construct has four dimensions, including recognizing complexity, analyzing multiple perspectives, appreciating the need for ongoing inquiry, and employing skepticism. To support its development, we integrated established principles for designing socio-scientific issues learning environments with the Knowledge Community of Inquiry model. A design-based research study was conducted with two iterations, involving 85 eighth graders, to examine the effectiveness of the integrative approach in supporting students’ socio-scientific reasoning and decision-making. The web-based unit “Asthma in the Community” was adapted and enacted with the students. In the first iteration, the socio-scientific approach was applied, and in the second iteration, the unit was redesigned with features from the Knowledge Community of Inquiry approach. Results showed that all students who participated in the second iteration developed socio-scientific reasoning, made better evidence-based decisions than those in the first iteration, and expressed an understanding of decision-making processes in a community, which is suggested as new, fifth dimension of socio-scientific reasoning. This fifth dimension is suggested as essential for coping with decision-making in socio-scientific issues in the networked society, and the study suggests how to design learning environments that can support its development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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19 pages, 607 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Students’ Intrinsic Motivation for Learning Non-Financial Information Matters from Their Self-Identification as Global Citizens

by Fábio Albuquerque, Ana Isabel Dias and Alexandra Domingos

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8247; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108247 - 18 May 2023

Viewed by 1087

Abstract

Recent developments related to non-financial information (NFI) reporting encourage the adoption of a long-term vision approach to sustainable development, which is also behind the definition of global citizens. In turn, the self-determination theory (SDT) describes which elements explain the students’ motivation. Using NFI as the subject and the SDT as the theoretical framework, this paper aims to identify the elements that can explain accounting students’ intrinsic motivation to learn topics related to NFI. Those elements include the different aspects that integrate the concept of a global citizen as well as sociodemographic variables. Data were gathered from a questionnaire to accounting students in Portugal. Through factorial analysis and linear regression, the findings indicate that all the elements underlying the concept of a global citizen, except empathy, are relevant in explaining students’ intrinsic motivation. Conversely, sociodemographic variables were not relevant for this purpose, which may indicate a more integrated perspective of the learning usefulness of topics related to NFI by self-identified students as global citizens. This paper provides insights into how students of an accounting course are intrinsically motivated to acquire skills in NFI reporting, which is particularly relevant to higher education institutions (HEIs), professors, students, and organizations related to accountancy education. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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19 pages, 3963 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Understanding of Socio-Scientific Issues Instruction through a Co-Design and Co-Teaching Approach Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Mingchun Huang and Peng He

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8211; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108211 - 18 May 2023

Viewed by 1394

Abstract

This qualitative case study explores the development of pre-service science teachers’ (PSTs) understanding of Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) instruction. The study utilized a conceptual framework of SSI-based instruction and a three-phase approach involving co-designing solutions, co-designing curriculum materials, and co-teaching classes. Primary data sources included PSTs’ interviews and reflective journals, while artifacts, field notes, and curriculum materials served as secondary data sources. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data of six PSTs in a teacher preparation program. We found that the PSTs’ understanding of SSI instruction was enhanced in 12 features of three core aspects: design elements, learner experiences, and teacher attributes. “Engaging in higher-order practices” was the most prominent feature, observed across all three phases. The three-phase approach played a crucial role in promoting PSTs’ understanding of SSI instruction, with each phase guiding their understanding in distinct ways. Particularly, the co-designing solutions phase facilitated the development of PSTs’ “awareness of the social considerations associated with the issue”. While the co-designing curriculum materials phase was effective in promoting their understanding of “scaffolding for practice: providing scaffolding for higher-order practices. “The co-teaching classes phase played a crucial role in facilitating their understanding of “willingness to position oneself as a knowledge contributor rather than the sole authority”. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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35 pages, 4100 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Advancing Sustainable Development: Emerging Factors and Futures for the Engineering Field

by Grace Burleson, Jason Lajoie, Christopher Mabey, Patrick Sours, Jennifer Ventrella, Erin Peiffer, Emma Stine, Marie Stettler Kleine, Laura MacDonald, Jesse Austin-Breneman, Amy Javernick-Will, Amos Winter, Juan Lucena, David Knight, Scott Daniel, Evan Thomas, Christopher Mattson and Iana Aranda

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7869; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107869 - 11 May 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5521

Abstract

This study set out to identify emerging trends in advancing engineering for sustainable development, supporting the engineering workforce to address wicked problems, and strengthening pathways between engineering education, industry, and policy. The following question guided this work: What are the emerging factors impacting the future of global sustainability efforts within engineering, and how can these be amplified to increase the impact of engineering for sustainable development? Using an adapted Delphi method with surveys, focus groups, and member-checking interviews, we hosted the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2022 Engineering Global Development (EGD) Stakeholder Summit. The summit convened industry leaders, innovators, and academics to explore emerging factors impacting the future of global sustainability efforts in engineering. This manuscript synthesizes emerging trends and proposes recommendations for engineering, particularly in the specific focus area of engineering for sustainable development (e.g., ‘humanitarian engineering’, ‘global engineering’). Critical recommendations include the adoption of emerging cultural mindsets, which include: (1) take an interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach, (2) consider dynamic and interconnected systems, (3) increase humility and intercultural competence, (4) prioritize diversity and inclusion, (5) increase localization and center community perspectives, (6) challenge the perception that engineering is neutral, and (7) broaden the goals of engineering. Ultimately, this study highlights pathways forward for the broader engineering community to more effectively contribute to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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20 pages, 2394 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Policy as a Socio-Scientific Issue: Argumentation in the Context of Economic, Environmental and Citizenship Education

by Hagit Shasha-Sharf and Tali Tal

Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7647; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097647 - 06 May 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1501

Abstract

One goal of environmental civic education is preparing students, both as citizens and as professionals, to use effective arguments in public debates. Such debates include dominantly economic claims, which are multifaceted and rarely taught in schools. A learning unit that applied the pedagogical principles of socio-scientific issues was developed for ‘Israel’s Natural Gas Export Policy’, a real sustainability dilemma. The study aimed to understand how pre- and in-service science teachers craft their arguments, by comparing their written reasoned opinions on the gas export debate, before and after the learning unit. Content analysis was conducted using Grounded Theory on the two groups’ texts in a multiple case study design. Five reasoning rationales were found: ‘Profits and Risks’, ‘Ethics or Ideology’, ‘Pragmatic Objectives’, ‘Evidence Base’ and ‘Stakeholder Motivations’. Each rationale yielded different reasoning strategies, including ‘Costs/Benefits’, ‘the Trade-Off Dilemma’ or ‘Compromise’, ‘Compensatory Benefits’ and ‘Non-Compensatory Costs/Risks’. The findings show that both groups used more argument types in the post-task. The development of ‘Profits and Risks’ strategies, between the pre- and post-texts, shows how the teachers’ arguments became more complex and decisive. These results exemplify how the SSI-focused learning unit enables learners to enhance their critical citizenship thinking, one of the cornerstones of democracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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14 pages, 7400 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Participatory Inquiries That Promote Consideration of Socio-Scientific Issues Related to Sustainability within Three Different Contexts: Agriculture, Botany and Palaeontology

by Debra McGregor, Sarah Frodsham and Clarysly Deller

Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6895; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086895 - 19 Apr 2023

Viewed by 888

Abstract

The involvement of students in dramatised inquiries, through participatory activity, offers opportunities to act in-role as scientists. The inquiries can ‘set-the-scene’, provide context and challenges for students to consider possibilities within and beyond everyday life. This approach can engage students in thinking about sustainability and developing citizenship competencies, such as thinking scientifically and critiquing ideas, interrogating evidence and assessing the validity of information, as well as decision making and problem solving. In this paper, adopting stories from the history of science is shown to provide rich, authentic contexts that engage students imaginatively and collaboratively in addressing past, present and future socio-scientific issues. To demonstrate how the approach can be adapted we drew on the work of three scientists: an agriculturalist; a botanist and a palaeontologist. Their scientific work informed the learning activities of several primary science lessons (with students aged 9–10). The agricultural activities were informed by the work of George Washington Carver and were related to improving soil quality through crop rotation as well as thinking about the diversity of food and other products that can be produced from plants. The botanically informed activities promoted understanding about processes linked to maintaining species diversity. These drew on the work of Marianne North, a Victorian botanical artist, noted for her detailed plant observations. The final socio-scientific context was related to the work of Mary Anning, a pioneering 19th century palaeontologist, who made significant fossil discoveries that contributed to the understanding of geology and evolution. Interactive and participatory activities, informed by the lives and work of these scientists, were designed to engage students in socio-scientific inquiry-based learning through a drama-based pedagogy. These dramatised inquiries promoted the development of scientific citizenship competencies. Scrutiny of data collected through multiple methods suggested that, by extending opportunities for learners to participate in these dramatised lessons, understanding sustainability became more salient for the students. Outcomes suggest several distinctive affordances offered by dramatisation when supporting understanding about sustainability and the development of scientific citizenship. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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21 pages, 2131 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fostering Chemistry Students’ Scientific Literacy for Responsible Citizenship through Socio-Scientific Inquiry-Based Learning (SSIBL)

by Yiannis Georgiou and Eleni A. Kyza

Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6442; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086442 - 10 Apr 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2339

Abstract

Fostering secondary education students’ responsible citizenship and preparing them to be critically engaged with global socio-environmental challenges are of crucial importance toward achieving sustainability. This paper contributes to the effort to understand how to support students’ scientific literacy for responsible citizenship by reporting on a study evaluating the impact of a learning intervention on biofuels, structured upon Socio-Scientific Inquiry-Based Learning (SSIBL) pedagogy. The participants were 93 students in secondary chemistry education; these students were assigned to the SSIBL group (n = 46) or to the control group (n = 47), which participated in Business-As-Usual (BAU) instruction. Quantitative data were collected with the Global Scientific Literacy Questionnaire (GSLQ) before and after the learning intervention for evaluating students’ perceptions of science as a human endeavor (i.e., nature of science), as well as their personal responsibility and willingness to take action for maintaining a sustainable environment (i.e., values and attitudes). Qualitative data were also collected through video recordings of the SSIBL implementation to examine how the SSIBL instruction was enacted. The findings indicated that, after the implementation, students in the SSIBL condition outperformed their counterparts in the control condition. These findings provide empirical documentation supporting the use of the SSIBL learning intervention to foster students’ scientific literacy for responsible citizenship. The video recordings also shed light on how the SSIBL instruction phases (i.e., Ask, Find out, Act) contributed to the development of students’ responsible citizenship, as a pre-requisite for achieving sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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16 pages, 1306 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Addressing Sustainability in the High School Biology Classroom through Socioscientific Issues

by Wendy M. Jackson, Maia K. Binding, Kelly Grindstaff, Manisha Hariani and Bon W. Koo

Sustainability 2023, 15(7), 5766; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15075766 - 26 Mar 2023

Viewed by 2186

Abstract

The Science Education Program for Public Understanding System (SEPUP) at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, recently redesigned its high school biology program, Science and Global Issues, which is centered around sustainability-related socioscientific issues. The goal of this work was to fill a gap in standards-based, sustainability-themed high school biology curricula. Curriculum developers began the redesign process by asking the question: What does it look like for students to think about sustainability/sustainable development in the context of operationalized goals for sustainability (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) while also allowing them to be successful in meeting rigorous science standards (in this case, the US Next Generation Science Standards)? The process used by the developers is described, from conceptualizing the program and units to enacting the program in student-facing materials. The framework for presenting sustainability to students is described, as are the specific contexts that allow students to develop a deep understanding of scientific concepts while addressing current and important socioscientific issues. A selection of feedback from teachers and students gathered during the field test of the curriculum is shared, as is feedback from teachers who used the published program. The developers concluded that sustainability provides a powerful framework for allowing students to learn biological concepts and apply them to real-world issues. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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17 pages, 2069 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Informal Reasoning Modes of Preservice Primary Teachers When Arguing about a Socio-Scientific Issue on Nuclear Power during a Role Play

by Isabel María Cruz-Lorite, Daniel Cebrián-Robles, María del Carmen Acebal-Expósito and Maria Evagorou

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4291; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054291 - 28 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1271

Abstract

The use of nuclear power is a socio-scientific issue that is controversial in many areas. Concerns of nuclear power touch on health effects, environmental impacts, employment concerns and energy supply; arguments both for and against it are easily generated. This paper examines the specific aspects addressed by preservice primary teachers in their arguments during their participation in a roleplaying activity on the SSI of nuclear power stations closures in Spain. This was done in order to better understand informal reasoning modes, as well as the possible effect of the roles defended and the design of the staging of the role play. To this end, the transcripts of four role plays were analysed. The data analysis was carried out by open coding, extracting different categories of analysis that were classified into three different informal reasoning modes: environmental, financial and social. The results showed that participants used more environmental-oriented arguments than financial and social ones. Differences in informal reasoning modes were found between some roles and between the two parts of the staging. Some educational implications of these results are discussed, such as providing more information to the participants before the roleplaying activity and emphasising the scaffolding of the social aspects when designing the role play. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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15 pages, 283 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identifying the ‘Different we’s’ in Primary Teachers’ Education for Sustainable Development Discourse—A Positioning Theory Perspective

by Sonia Martins Felix, Annette Lykknes and Ragnhild Lyngved Staberg

Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13444; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013444 - 18 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1885

Abstract

Education can serve the purpose of trying to mitigate catastrophes. In a school context, teachers can have a role in enacting an interconnection between critical thinking (CT) as a potentially useful tool and education for sustainable development (ESD), in terms of educating and communicating the importance of sustainability to future generations. This paper uses discourse analysis, drawing on post-structuralism, to explore how Norwegian primary school teachers consider CT (skills, dispositions, and civic participation) in relation to ESD. The study draws on social constructivism and positioning theory (PT) in particular to find patterns in teachers’ own shifting standpoints through individual and collective assertations around ESD. Specifically, in this paper we make efforts to implement the PT to study (i) teachers’ own positioning about sustainability through their communication acts within primary-school contexts, and (ii) the functions of education in relation to ESD in this context. We explored the discussion between three teachers from the same school team during one focus group interview, by tracing the teachers’ uses of I and we (as markers) in relation to Biesta’s three functions of education in the discourse. Our discourse analysis has an exploratory character and is carried out on a limited dataset. PT was used as a framework to categorize the teachers’ statements; treated as content of discourse. The pronoun we is identified in the discourse analysis in three different ways: with the underlying meaning of a humanitarian we, an institutional we, and a classroom we. In the one focus group interview, we also identified teachers’ sense of belonging with the environment and nature, generally regarded to be prevalent in Norwegian society. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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17 pages, 1767 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Sustainable Social Development through the Use of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Education during the COVID Emergency: A Systematic Review Using PRISMA

by Verónica Aguilar-Esteva, Adán Acosta-Banda, Ricardo Carreño Aguilera and Miguel Patiño Ortiz

Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6498; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086498 - 11 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1786

Abstract

In this paper, we aimed to investigate how sustainable development can be involved in educational contexts that use new trends in technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science (DS). To achieve this goal, we conducted a documentary Systematic Review using PRISMA research to find and analyze applications of sustainable development in these aforementioned contexts. In the results, we explain how some applications of both AI and DS, including Big Data and Learning Analytics among others, offer alternatives to substantially improve the educational process by allowing either education to be personalized, learning to be predicted, or even possible school dropouts to be predicted. We found that the COVID emergency sped up the introduction of these technologies in educational environments. Nevertheless, the inclusion of new technologies to develop better processes in education is still in progress and will continue to grow. In conclusion, we identified and analyzed some of the main applications found in the literature regarding new computing technologies. AI and DS have introduced new learning and teaching methods to solve different context problems that promote sustainable development while making educational environments more dynamic. On the other hand, we observed that the divide in many countries will continue due to their economic and technological situations. We describe some of the challenges that the incorporation of these technologies will bring in the near future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Citizenship: Integration of Socio-Scientific Issues in Science Education)

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