Reflecting Socio-Scientific Issues
for Science Education Coming from
the Case of Curriculum
Development on Doping in
Chemistry Education

Miriam Stolz; Torsten Witteck; Ralf Marks; Ingo Eilks

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2014.945a

Reflecting Socio-Scientific Issues for Science Education Coming from the Case of Curriculum Development on Doping in Chemistry Education

Full Text (PDF)

Miriam Stolz ¹, Torsten Witteck ¹, Ralf Marks ¹, Ingo Eilks ¹ ^*

More Detail

¹ University of Bremen, GERMANY^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Socio-scientific issue-based science education has been suggested for promoting general educational skills development in science classes. However, there is a lack of operationalized criteria, which can be used to reflect upon societal issues to whether turning them into issues for science classroom instruction. This paper describes a case study based on Participatory Action Research in science education. A lesson plan based on the socio-scientific issue of doping in professional sports and in fitness studios was designed and cyclically refined by a group of teachers and science education researchers. Along this case, together with previous studies of SSI-oriented curriculum development, the action research group started reflecting on the question of operational criteria for reflecting and carrying out socio-scientific issues in science classroom situations. This paper discusses the structure of the above-mentioned lesson plan. Experience gained during lesson plan development and testing will be reported upon. Suggestions stemming from teacher group discussions about the criteria chosen for reflecting socio-scientific issues for classroom use will also be presented.

Keywords

socio-scientific issues-based science education
Curriculum Development
Participatory Action Research
doping
analytical chemistry education

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2013, Volume 9, Issue 4, 361-370

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.945a

Publication date: 14 Dec 2013

Article Views: 4122

Article Downloads: 1805

Open Access References How to cite this article

References

Albe, V. (2008). When scientific knowledge, daily life experience, epistemological and social considerations intersect: students’ argumentation in group discussions on a socio-scientific issue. Research in Science Education, 38, 67–90.
Burmeister, M., & Eilks, I. (2012). An example of learning about plastics and their evaluation as a contribution to Education for Sustainable Development in secondary school chemistry teaching. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 13 (2), 93-102.
Bybee, R. W. (1997). Toward an understanding of scientific literacy. In W. Gräber & C. Bolte (Eds.), Scientific literacy – an international symposium (pp. 37-68). Kiel: IPN.
De Jong, O. (2006). Making chemistry meaningful: Conditions for successful context-based teaching. Educacion Quimica, 17, 215-226.
Eilks, I. (2002a). Teaching 'biodiesel': a sociocritical and problem-oriented approach to chemistry teaching, and students' first views on it. Chemistry Education: Research Practice in Europe, 3, 67-75.
Eilks, I. (2002b). ‘Learning at stations’ in secondary level chemistry lessons. Science Education International, 13(1), 11-18.
Eilks, I. (2005). Experiences and reflections about teaching atomic structure in a jigsaw classroom in lower secondary school chemistry lessons. Journal of Chemical Education, 82 (2), 313-320.
Eilks, I., Nielsen, J. A., & Hofstein, A. (in press). Learning about the role of science in public debate as an essential component of scientific literacy. In C. Bruguière, A. Tiberghien & P. Clément (eds.), Topics and trends in current science education. Dordrecht: Springer.
Eilks, I., & Ralle, B. (2002). Participatory Action Research in chemical education. In B. Ralle and I. Eilks (eds.): Research in chemical education - what does this mean? (pp. 87- 98). Aachen: Shaker.
Elmose, S., & Roth, W.-M. (2005). Allgemeinbildung: Readiness for living in a risk society. Journal of Curriculum Studies 37, 11-34.
Feierabend, T., & Eilks, I. (2011). Teaching the societal dimension of chemistry using a socio-critical, problemoriented lesson plan based on bioethanol usage. Journal of Chemical Education 88, 1250-1256.
Fensham, P. (2004a). Increasing the relevance of science and technology education for all students in the 21st century. Science Education International, 15, 7-27.
Fensham, P. J. (2004b). Defining an identity. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Gilbert, J. K. (2006). On the nature of context in chemical education. International Journal of Science Education, 28, 957-976.
Hofstein, A., Eilks, I., & Bybee, R. (2011). Societal issues and their importance for contemporary science education: a pedagogical justification and the state of the art in Israel, Germany and the USA. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 9, 1459-1483.
Hofstein, A., & Kempa, R. F. (1985). Motivating aspects in science education: An attempt at an analysis. European Journal of Science Education, 7, 221–229.
Holbrook, J. (2003). Increasing relevance of science education: the way forward. Science Education International, 14, 5-13.
Holbrook, J. (2008). Introduction to the special issue of science education international devoted to PARSEL. Science Education International, 19, 257-266.
Holbrook, J., & Rannikmäe, M. (2007). The nature of science education for enhancing scientific literacy. International Journal of Science Education, 29, 1347-1362.
Hughes, G. (2000). Marginalization of socioscientific material in science-technology-society science curricula: Some implications for gender inclusivity and curriculum reform. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37, 426-440.
Jenkins, E. W. (2005). Important but not for me: students' attitudes towards secondary school science in England. Research in Science & Technological Education, 23, 41-57.
Lee, M.-K., & Erdogan, I. (2007). The effect of Science– Technology–Society teaching on students’ attitudes toward science and certain aspects of creativity. International Journal of Science Education, 29, 1315-1328.
Mamlok-Naaman, R., & Eilks, I. (2012). Action research to promote chemistry teachers’ professional development – Cases and experiences from Israel and Germany. International Journal of Mathematics and Science Education, 10, 581-610.
Marks, R., Bertram, S., & Eilks, I. (2008). Learning chemistry and beyond with a lesson plan on potato crisps, which follows a socio-critical and problem-oriented approach to chemistry lessons – a case study. Chemistry Education: Research and Practice, 9, 267-276.
Marks, R. & Eilks, I. (2009). Promoting scientific literacy using a socio-critical and problem-oriented approach to chemistry teaching: concept, examples, experiences. International Journal of Science and Environmental Education, 4, 131-145.
Marks, R., & Eilks, I. (2010). The development of a chemistry lesson plan on shower gels and musk fragrances following a socio-critical and problem-oriented approach – A project of Participatory Action Research. Chemistry Education: Research and Practice, 11, 129-14.
Marks, R., Otten, J. & Eilks, I. (2010). Writing news spots about science – A way to promote scientific literacy. School Science Review, 92(339), 99-108.
McIntyre D., 2005, Bridging the gap between research and practice, Cambridge Journal of Education, 35, 357-382.
Osborne, J., (2003). Attitude towards science: a review of the literature and its implications. International Journal of Science Education, 25, 1049-1079.
Osborne, J., & Dillon, J. (2008). Science education in Europe: critical reflections. London: The Nuffield Foundation.
Pedretti, E., & Hodson, D. (1995). From rhetoric to action: implementing STS education through action research. Journal of Research Science Teaching, 32, 463–485.
Roth, W.-M., & Lee S. (2004). Science education as/for participation in the community. Science Education, 88, 263-291.
Sadler, T. D. (2004). Informal reasoning regarding socioscientific issues: A critical review of research. Journal of Research Science Teaching, 41, 513–536.
Sadler, T. D. (2011). Socio-scientific issues in the classroom. Heidelberg: Springer.
Simon, S. & Amos, R. (2011). Decision making and use of evidence in a socio-scientific problem on air quality. In T. D. Sadler (ed.), Socio-scientific issues in the classroom: Teaching, learning and research (pp. 167-196). New York: Springer.
Sjöström, J., (2013). Towards Bildung-oriented science education. Science & Education, 22, 1873-1890.
Solomon, J., & Aikenhead, G. (eds.) (1994). STS education: international perspectives on reform. New York: Teachers College Press.
Ware, S. A. (2001). Teaching chemistry from a societal perspective. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 7, 1209-1214.
Yager, R. E., & Lutz, M. V. (1995). STS to enhance total curriculum. School Science and Mathematics, 95, 28-35.
Zeidler D. L., Sadler, T. D., Simmons, M. L., & Howes, E. V. (2005). A research based framework for socio-scientific issues education. Science Education, 89, 357-377.

How to cite this article

APA

Stolz, M., Witteck, T., Marks, R., & Eilks, I. (2013). Reflecting Socio-Scientific Issues for Science Education Coming from the Case of Curriculum Development on Doping in Chemistry Education. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(4), 361-370. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.945a

Vancouver

Stolz M, Witteck T, Marks R, Eilks I. Reflecting Socio-Scientific Issues for Science Education Coming from the Case of Curriculum Development on Doping in Chemistry Education. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(4):361-70. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.945a

AMA

Stolz M, Witteck T, Marks R, Eilks I. Reflecting Socio-Scientific Issues for Science Education Coming from the Case of Curriculum Development on Doping in Chemistry Education. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(4), 361-370. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.945a

Chicago

Stolz, Miriam, Torsten Witteck, Ralf Marks, and Ingo Eilks. "Reflecting Socio-Scientific Issues for Science Education Coming from the Case of Curriculum Development on Doping in Chemistry Education". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2013 9 no. 4 (2013): 361-370. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.945a

Harvard

Stolz, M., Witteck, T., Marks, R., and Eilks, I. (2013). Reflecting Socio-Scientific Issues for Science Education Coming from the Case of Curriculum Development on Doping in Chemistry Education. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(4), pp. 361-370. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.945a

MLA

Stolz, Miriam et al. "Reflecting Socio-Scientific Issues for Science Education Coming from the Case of Curriculum Development on Doping in Chemistry Education". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 9, no. 4, 2013, pp. 361-370. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.945a