We propose a conceptual framework for STEM education that is centered around justice for minoritized groups. Justice-centered STEM education engages all students in multiple STEM subjects, including data science and computer science, to explain and design solutions to societal challenges disproportionately impacting minoritized groups. We…

Video games have become a popular medium in our society, and recent scholarship suggests that games can support substantial learning. This study stems from a project in which we created a video game enabling students to use biotechnology to solve a societal problem. As students engaged in the game, they necessarily interacted with the underlying…

The purpose of this investigation was to examine, from a cross-cultural perspective, students' epistemological patterns of reasoning about socioscientific issues (SSI), and to identify potential interactions of cultural and scientific identity. Mediating factors associated with students' argumentation and discourse about SSI, as well as the…

Discusses results of surveys on status of science education in graduate institutions (N=132), focusing on the 35 largest programs in terms of doctoral programs/enrollment and research productivity and other science educators' (N=144) perceptions of problems. Suggests solutions related to: administration, research, science content; theory and…

Argues that teaching for social justice is a viable science-education goal. Claims that the issues and challenges among science educators in Western and non-Western cultures are more similar than different, and that it is incumbent upon all cultures to contribute in meaningful ways to the development and environmental sustainability of our global…

Examines the social conscience of science teachers as it bears on the teaching of controversial issues. Explores teachers' perceptions of the teaching of controversial issues, the problem of handling personal value positions when dealing with issues, and the tension that exists between the teaching of controversial issues and traditional…

Twenty-two high school biology textbooks published between 1963 and 1983 were analyzed for their treatment of social issues. Results showed that attention to social issues decreased in these textbooks between 1963 and 1983. Implications of the results for biology education in the 1980s are discussed. (JN)

Discusses some of the issues that face science educators working in developing nations. Explains that educators in the developing world should recognize existing First-World hegemony and develop their own systems, programs, and practices that are authentic and contextually relevant rather than follow the dominant order in an uncritical way. (WRM)

The purpose of this study is to contribute to a theoretical knowledge base through research by examining factors salient to science education reform and practice in the context of socioscientific issues. The study explores how individuals negotiate and resolve genetic engineering dilemmas. A qualitative approach was used to examine patterns of…

Reports on a study into the relative importance of the four goal clusters of Project Synthesis as perceived by members of service clubs and community groups. Results indicate that although the importance of science for further studying of science remained constant from 1976-1986, significant increases occurred in the importance of science in…

Demonstrates how socioscientific material is marginalized through the structures and language of syllabus texts and through classroom practices using the example of Salters' Advanced Chemistry from the United Kingdom. Concludes that socioscientific content is gendered through association with social concerns and epistemological uncertainty, and…

Analyzes five biology textbooks in 11 categories identified as current controversial issues and biosocial problems. Quantitative ratings for each category, based on total number of textbook pages, are presented for Darwinian evolution, disease states, drugs, environment, human genetics, human reproduction, man in nature, origin of life, population…

Socioscientific issues encompass social dilemmas with conceptual or technological links to science. The process of resolving these issues is best characterized by informal reasoning which describes the generation and evaluation of positions in response to complex situations. This article presents a critical review of research related to informal…

Discusses the inclusion of socio-scientific issues in science education. Describes a study in which adolescents who had successfully completed both high school chemistry and biology were interviewed to determine the extent to which they used their knowledge of the physical world, via nonsocial cognition, when analyzing such issues. (TW)

Discusses the inclusion of socio-scientific issues in science education from the standpoint of social cognition. Describes a study in which adolescents who had successfully completed both high school chemistry and biology were interviewed. Data suggest that their dominant domains of reasoning were in the area of social cognition. (TW)