SSIs+and+the+curriculum+–+who+chooses+and+why?

How are SSIs framed in curriculum documents? What are the opportunities and constraints for the exploration of SSI in science education?
 * SSIs and the curriculum – who chooses and why?** ** (Pedro) **

// Here are some ideas about my participation in the workshop. // // I intend to present this text with one or two diagrams. //

Several national curricula call for the discussion of socio-scientific issues’ in science education because of its potential for creating a more real, humane image of scientific activity and for promoting competences essential to an active and responsible citizenship. They consider that the understanding of what science is and how it is produced is crucial for citizens' participation and involvement in the evaluation of science and technology: a key element of democratic societies. Several studies have shown the usefulness of the classroom discussion of socio-scientific issues both in terms of science learning (its contents, processes and nature) and in terms of the students’ cognitive, social, political, moral and ethical development. However, only some science teachers implement these activities, even when the socio-scientific issues comprise the curricular content and the teachers value the discussion of these issues.

It is also true that many science teachers view science as an objective enterprise free from values. These science teachers see their task as teaching the facts (and not discussing opinions or ethical aspects), shifting the onus for discussion of the social, moral and ethical implications of science and technology to the lessons of their humanities colleagues. When ethical questions are introduced into the science classroom, they are treated as an initial starting point and presented briefly with little analysis or criticism.

One meta-analysis of several in-depth case-studies, realized in Portugal between 1995 and 2009, shows that the implementation of classroom discussions of socio-scientific issues depends decisively on:
 * Teachers’ conceptions about science, science education, curriculum and citizenship; and
 * The knowledge needed for their design, management and assessment.



Teachers' conceptions about science influence their classroom practice, presenting scientific activity as a complex, dynamic human enterprise that involves value issues and is therefore controversial. They believe that socio-scientific issues are not limited to technical discussions; rather, they involve other aspects (value hierarchies, personal conveniences, financial matters, social pressures and so on) that lead to differing opinions. Consequently, they recognize the importance of involving students in the evaluation of the potentialities and limitations of scientific and technological progress. To do so they often resort to current socio-scientific issues as the starting point for research, discussion and community action. One of their main aims is to empower students with competences necessary to actively participate in public discussions, decision-making processes and social actions.

In all cases, teachers’ classroom practice is influenced by:


 * A conception of science education focused both on knowledge construction and on the development of skills and attitudes required for citizens’ intellectual autonomy and for exercising their citizenship; and
 * An understanding of the curriculum allowing for levels of decision-making suited to the needs of society.

All teachers reveal a conception of curriculum as a creator of competencies that stresses the possibility for teachers to manage content and choose the educational experiences according to the needs of society, students’ specific characteristics and the unique contexts in which they live. In line with the latter, teachers assume the role of curriculum constructors (and not just consumers/executors) and are more concerned with how to develop specific competencies that they consider relevant than with the lengthy curricular contents themselves. So, conceptions about the curriculum (and not the curriculum itself) emerge as an important inhibitor of the attention teachers pay to the discussion of socio-scientific issues.

In all cases, teachers' strong personal beliefs (regarding the importance of promoting the discussion of controversial socio-scientific issues and explicitly addressing aspects of the nature of science), together with their in-depth knowledge of the subject matter, the aims of science education and the strategies to carry it out, allow them to overcome any obstacles to the implementation of discussion activities about socio-scientific issues. A strong knowledge about science (its contents, nature and processes) associated with a pedagogical knowledge about how to manage and assess classroom discussions are decisive factors to succeed with those activities. Teachers' beliefs and professional knowledge grant them a remarkable capacity to interpret the curriculum so as to address the topics and carry out the activities they consider important and relevant.

In most cases, teachers face students as social actors in their own right, and not merely objects of socialisation, investing a lot of effort empowering students with the competences and the confidence necessary for socio-political action in their own community.

Several situations had a positive impact on teachers' personal and professional development regarding the discussion of socio-scientific issues:
 * In-service training opportunities in which the teachers experienced, implemented and evaluated new approaches under experts’ supervision;
 * Previous experience as scientific researchers, and consequently, the in-depth knowledge about the nature of science and its interactions with technology and society; and
 * Life paths that reinforced the idea of children and young people as social actors in their own right, and not merely objects of socialisation.

Debbie: Hi Pedro I was keen to see that you talk about teachers views of science and so therefore I thought in the afternoon we could link it to NOS, SSIs and argumenation. I still have a bit of work to do on this, It would be good to have your comments.