Skip to main content

Overview of Teachers’ Professional Learning for Socioscientific Issues and Sustainability Education

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Innovative Approaches to Socioscientific Issues and Sustainability Education

Part of the book series: Learning Sciences for Higher Education ((LSHE))

  • 527 Accesses

Abstract

In this chapter, we will highlight the current status, the potential challenges and learning opportunities afforded by socioscientific issues (SSI)) to deal with sustainability education within the science curriculum. As such, we have collected and reviewed studies related to SSI to provide the background for and a possible lens through which we can view the discussions that follow in this book. Then, innovative approaches will be described that provide opportunities for further developing research and practice in this field.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amos, R., Knippels, M.-C., & Levinson, R. (2020). Socio-scientific inquiry-based learning: Possibilities and challenges for teacher education. In M. Evagorou, J. A. Nielsen, & J. Dillon (Eds.), Science Teacher Education for Responsible Citizenship (pp. 41–61). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40229-7_4

  • Arastoopour, G., & Shaffer, D. W. (2013). Measuring social identity development in epistemic games. In CSCL 2013 Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1, pp. 42–48).

    Google Scholar 

  • Badia, A., & Liesa, E. (2020). Experienced teachers’ identity based on their I-positions: An analysis in the Catalan context. European Journal of Teacher Education, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1795122

  • Bayram-Jacobs, D., Henze, I., Evagorou, M., Shwartz, Y., Aschim, E. L., Alcaraz-Dominguez, S., Barajas, M., & Dagan, E. (2019). Science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge development during enactment of socioscientific curriculum materials. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 56(9), 1207–1233. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21550

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, R., & Olsen, B. (2018). Teacher identity in the current teacher education landscape. In Research on Teacher Identity (pp. 195–205). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93836-3_17

  • Chang, J., & Park, J. (2020). Developing teacher professionalism for teaching socio-scientific issues: What and how should teachers learn? Cultural Studies of Science Education, 15(2), 423–431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-019-09955-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, L., & Xiao, S. (2021). Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies of science teachers in teaching socioscientific issues: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 32, Article 100377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2020.100377

  • Dimenäs, J., & Alexandersson, M. (2012). Crossing disciplinary borders: Perspectives on learning about sustainable development. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 14(1), 5–19. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10099-012-0001-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eilks, I. (2015). Science education and education for sustainable development - justifications, models, practices and perspectives. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(1), 149–158. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1313a

  • Evagorou, M., & Dillon, J. (2020). Introduction: Socio-scientific issues as promoting responsible citizenship and the relevance of science. In Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education (Vol. 52, pp. 1–11). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40229-7_1

  • Friedrichsen, P. J., Ke, L., Sadler, T. D., & Zangori, L. (2020). Enacting co-designed socio-scientific issues-based curriculum units: A case of secondary science teacher learning. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 32(1), 85–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2020.1795576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedrichsen, P. J., Sadler, T. D., & Zangori, L. (2020). Supporting teachers in the design and enactment of socio-scientific issue-based teaching in the USA. In M. Evagorou, J. A. Nielsen, & J. Dillon (Eds.), Science Teacher Education for Responsible Citizenship (Vol. 52, pp. 85–99). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40229-7_6

  • Furman, M., Taylor, I., Luzuriaga, M., & Podestá, M. E. (2020). Getting ready to work with socio-scientific issues in the classroom: A study with argentine teachers. In Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education (Vol. 52, pp. 133–151). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40229-7_9

  • Han-Tosunoglu, C., & Lederman, N. G. (2021). Developing an instrument to assess pedagogical content knowledge for biological socioscientific issues. Teaching and Teacher Education, 97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103217

  • Kapici, H. O., & Ilhan, G. O. (2016). Pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward socioscientific issues and their views about nuclear power plants. Journal of Baltic Science Education, 15(5), 642–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kilinc, A., Demiral, U., & Kartal, T. (2017). Resistance to dialogic discourse in SSI teaching: The effects of an argumentation-based workshop, teaching practicum, and induction on a preservice science teacher. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 54(6), 764–789. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, H. (2016). Conceptualization of an SSI-PCK framework for teaching socioscientific issues. Journal of the Korean Association for Science Education, 36(4), 539–550. https://doi.org/10.14697/jkase.2016.36.4.0539

  • Levinson, R. (2013). Practice and theory of socio-scientific issues: An authentic model? Studies in Science Education, 49(1), 99–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057267.2012.746819

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, R. (2018). Introducing socio-scientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL). School Science Review, 371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magnusson, S., Krajcik, J., & Borko, H. (1999). Nature, sources, and development of pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching. In J. Gess-Newsome & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge: The Construct and its Implications for Science Education (pp. 95–132). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47217-1_4

  • Ministry of Education of Taiwan. (2014). Curriculum guidelines of 12-year basic education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education of Taiwan. (2018). Curriculum guidelines in science of 12-year basic education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morin, O., Simonneaux, L., & Tytler, R. (2017). Engaging with socially acute questions: Development and validation of an Interactional Reasoning Framework. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 54(7), 825–851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olsen, B. (2014). Learning from experience: A teacher-identity perspective. In Learning teaching from experience: Multiple perspectives and international contexts (pp. 79–94). Bloomsbury. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472593313.ch-005

  • Owen, R., Macnaghten, P., & Stilgoe, J. (2012). Responsible research and innovation: From science in society to science for society, with society. Science and Public Policy, 39(6), 751–760. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scs093

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Owens, D. C., Sadler, T. D., & Friedrichsen, P. (2021). Teaching practices for enactment of socio-scientific issues instruction: An instrumental case study of an experienced biology teacher. Research in Science Education, 51(2), 375–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, M., Siebert-Evenstone, A., Kessler, A., Gasevic, D., & Shaffer, D. W. (2021). Professional decision making: Reframing teachers’ work using epistemic frame theory. In Advances in Quantitative Ethnography (pp. 265–276). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67788-6_18

  • Presley, M. L., Sickel, A. J., Muslu, N., Merle-Johnson, D., Witzig, S. B., Izci, K., & Sadler, T. D. (2013). A framework for socio-scientific issues based education. Science Educator; Johnson City, 22(1), 26–32, Article EJ1062183. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1062183.pdf

  • Roberts, D. A., & Bybee, R. W. (2014). Scientific literacy, science literacy, and science education. In Handbook of Research on Science Education, II. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203097267.ch27

  • Sadler, T. D. (2004). Informal reasoning regarding socioscientific issues: A critical review of research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(5), 513–536. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, T. D. (2011). Situating socioscientific issues in classrooms as a means of achieving goals of science education. In T. D. Sadler (Ed.), Socio-scientific issues in the classroom: Teaching, learning and research (pp. 1–9). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1159-4_1

  • Sadler, T. D., Amirshokoohi, A., Kazempour, M., & Allspaw, K. M. (2006). Socioscience and ethics in science classrooms: Teacher perspectives and strategies. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43(4), 353–376. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, T. D., Foulk, J. A., & Friedrichsen, P. J. (2017). Evolution of a model for socio-scientific issue teaching and learning. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, 5(2), 75–87. https://doi.org/10.18404/ijemst.55999

  • Shaffer, D. W. (2006a). Epistemic frames for epistemic games. Computers & Education, 46(3), 223–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2005.11.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer, D. W. (2006b). How computer games help children learn (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230601994

  • Shaffer, D. W., Hatfield, D., Svarovsky, G. N., Nash, P., Nulty, A., Bagley, E., Frank, K., Rupp, A. A., & Mislevy, R. (2009). Epistemic network analysis: A prototype for 21st-century assessment of learning. International Journal of Learning and Media, 1(2), 33–53. https://doi.org/10.1162/ijlm.2009.0013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonneaux, L., & Simonneaux, J. (2008). Students’ socio-scientific reasoning on controversies from the viewpoint of education for sustainable development. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 4(3), 657–687. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-008-9141-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tidemand, S., & Nielsen, J. A. (2017). The role of socioscientific issues in biology teaching: From the perspective of teachers. International Journal of Science Education, 39(1), 44–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2016.1264644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Topçu, M. S., Foulk, J. A., Sadler, T. D., Pitiporntapin, S., & Atabey, N. (2018). The classroom observation protocol for socioscientific issue-based instruction: Development and implementation of a new research tool. Research in Science & Technological Education, 36(3), 302–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/02635143.2017.1399353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfensberger, B., Piniel, J., Canella, C., & Kyburz-Graber, R. (2010). The challenge of involvement in reflective teaching: Three case studies from a teacher education project on conducting classroom discussions on socio-scientific issues. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(3), 714–721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2009.10.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeidler, D. L. (2014). Socioscientific issues as a curriculum emphasis: Theory, research, and practice. In N. G. Lederman & S. K. Abell (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (Vol. 12, pp. 697–726). Routledge Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeidler, D. L., Applebaum, S. M., & Sadler, T. D. (2011). Enacting a socioscientific issues classroom: Transformative transformations. In Socio-scientific issues in the classroom (pp. 277–305). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1159-4_16

  • Zeidler, D. L., Herman, B. C., & Sadler, T. D. (2019). New directions in socioscientific issues research. Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research, 1(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-019-0008-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ying-Shao Hsu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hsu, YS., Tytler, R., White, P.J. (2022). Overview of Teachers’ Professional Learning for Socioscientific Issues and Sustainability Education. In: Hsu, YS., Tytler, R., White, P.J. (eds) Innovative Approaches to Socioscientific Issues and Sustainability Education. Learning Sciences for Higher Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1840-7_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1840-7_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-19-1839-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-19-1840-7

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics