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Teachers’ experiences of teaching ‘ideas-about-science’ and socio-scientific issues

Teachers’ experiences of teaching ‘ideas-about-science’ and socio-scientific issues
Teachers’ experiences of teaching ‘ideas-about-science’ and socio-scientific issues
Teaching of socio-scientific issues encourages a focus on ‘ideas-about-science’ (the processes and practices of science) and consideration of scientific evidence and values. This paper reports an evaluation of teachers’ practice and views as they taught an innovative pilot course (Twenty First Century Science) to pupils in their last two years of compulsory schooling. Using classroom observation, questionnaires and interviews of teachers, the evaluation explored the extent to which teachers were successful in handling ‘ideas-about-science’ and how the two components of the course (‘ideas-about-science’ and science explanations) were interrelated and recognised in the teaching. Teachers saw the course as very interesting but very challenging to teach. Despite declaring some confidence in their understanding of ‘ideas-about-science’, science explanations dominated over ‘ideas-about-science’ in teachers’ perceptions of the focus of the course and in their teaching. There was gradual change in practice to incorporate more discursive pedagogies, suggesting that several cycles through the course are needed for teachers to appreciate its aims fully and support the teaching of socio-scientific issues effectively.
science education, socio-scientific issues, science teaching
Hanley, Pam
e6294627-36ff-4289-8b0b-0ac9c38d254a
Ratcliffe, Mary
23eb1e68-67a1-4b73-ad0e-925dcb12e5e8
Osborne, Jonathan
15b1de29-6239-42c4-b0dc-426450721b9a
Hanley, Pam
e6294627-36ff-4289-8b0b-0ac9c38d254a
Ratcliffe, Mary
23eb1e68-67a1-4b73-ad0e-925dcb12e5e8
Osborne, Jonathan
15b1de29-6239-42c4-b0dc-426450721b9a

Hanley, Pam, Ratcliffe, Mary and Osborne, Jonathan (2007) Teachers’ experiences of teaching ‘ideas-about-science’ and socio-scientific issues. European Science Education Association Conference (ESERA) 2007, Malmo, Sweden. 21 - 25 Aug 2007. 12 pp .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Teaching of socio-scientific issues encourages a focus on ‘ideas-about-science’ (the processes and practices of science) and consideration of scientific evidence and values. This paper reports an evaluation of teachers’ practice and views as they taught an innovative pilot course (Twenty First Century Science) to pupils in their last two years of compulsory schooling. Using classroom observation, questionnaires and interviews of teachers, the evaluation explored the extent to which teachers were successful in handling ‘ideas-about-science’ and how the two components of the course (‘ideas-about-science’ and science explanations) were interrelated and recognised in the teaching. Teachers saw the course as very interesting but very challenging to teach. Despite declaring some confidence in their understanding of ‘ideas-about-science’, science explanations dominated over ‘ideas-about-science’ in teachers’ perceptions of the focus of the course and in their teaching. There was gradual change in practice to incorporate more discursive pedagogies, suggesting that several cycles through the course are needed for teachers to appreciate its aims fully and support the teaching of socio-scientific issues effectively.

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More information

Published date: 2007
Venue - Dates: European Science Education Association Conference (ESERA) 2007, Malmo, Sweden, 2007-08-21 - 2007-08-25
Keywords: science education, socio-scientific issues, science teaching

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 57904
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/57904
PURE UUID: c0cc17ef-bd41-4baf-88d8-810c0c51247a

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 Aug 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 11:09

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Contributors

Author: Pam Hanley
Author: Mary Ratcliffe
Author: Jonathan Osborne

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