Abstract
To make informed decisions has been acknowledged as an essential ability to negotiate socioscientific issues. However, many young people show an inadequate understanding of how to make well-informed decisions, particularly in contexts that are connected to environmental problems. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of an environmental science competition (BundesUmweltWettbewerb, BUW) to foster students’ socioscientific decision-making. Two different instruments, a paper-pencil test (N = 196 students) and retrospective interviews (N = 10 students), have been used in two successive studies. In addition, both of the applied instruments are investigated theoretically using the “assessment triangle” of the National Research Council (National Research Council, Knowing What Students Know, 2001) as a framework. The results of our studies indicate that participating in the environmental science competition predominantly fosters students’ socioscientific decision-making in its pre-selectional phase. We further argue that promoting the selectional phase of decision-making requires explicit and instructional guidance. With respect to the assessment of socioscientific decision-making, a focus on either structural (decision-making strategies) or contextual (decision content) conditions is argued. Outcomes are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications.
Highlights
Ongoing developments in science and technology increasingly shape social issues that “require scientific knowledge for informed decisionmaking” (Zeidler & Nichols, 2009, p. 49)
Discussion of results The purpose of Study 1 was to examine the competition’s effect on participants’ decision-making using a questionnaire by Eggert and Bögeholz (2010). This questionnaire analyzes decision-making in its selectional phase and, focuses on students’ ability to use appropriate decision-making strategies
It is assumed that the poor study results are mainly due to the lack of instructional guidance on how to strategically make a decision
Summary
Ongoing developments in science and technology increasingly shape social issues that “require scientific knowledge for informed decisionmaking” (Zeidler & Nichols, 2009, p. 49). These controversial issues at the intersection of science and society, such as genetic engineering and nuclear power, have been called socioscientific issues (SSI) within the science education community (Fleming, 1986; Sadler, 2004) To negotiate these issues, students must reach beyond the mere comprehension of scientific content by embedding their science understanding within a social and political context (Kinslow, Sadler, & Nguyen, 2019; Kolstø, 2001; Romine, Sadler, & Kinslow, 2017). Traditional classroom practices are often teacher-focused and contentspecific This dependency might challenge the implementation of debatable and interdisciplinary SSI (Sadler, 2009). On a more conceptual level, “well-structured decision-making processes are essential”
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