Integrating Socioscientific Issues
With Scientific Practices
In The Elementary Classroom
Name: Wong Mei Leng, Anne
Home Country: Singapore
Host Country: United States of America
Name of Faculty Mentor: Dr. J. Randy McGinnis
Date of Submission: December 7, 2011
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
Page
1
Chapter 1: Introduction
 Problem Statement
 Purpose of My Project
 Research Questions
2
2
3
Chapter 2: Literature review
 What are the goals of Science Education?
 What are the elements of scientific practices and discourse?
 Are the elements of scientific practices and discourse necessary
for elementary students?
 What is moral reasoning?
 What is Sociscientific Issues (SSI)?
 What is the relevance of teaching moral reasoning in Science?
 How can moral reasoning be integrated with learning of science?
 What are the considerations that teachers must have in
constructing such lesson?
 How can we assess the effectiveness of such lessons? In terms
of argument – content and process. How to assess the quality of
argument?
Chapter 3: Method
 Procedure
 Data Analysis
 Summary of Interview with Dr. Dana Zeidler
 Summary of Interview with Mr. Michael Long (from the perspective
of a teacher and teacher developer in Singapore)
 Summary and Analysis of Interview with Mr. Daniel Hutton (from the
perspective of a teacher and teacher developer in Maryland, USA)
4
7
8
9
10
10
11
12
14
17
18
28
32
Chapter 4: Interpretation
 Interpretation of Interview with Dr. Dana Zeidler
 Interpretation of Interview with Mr. Michaal Long and Mr. Daniel Hutton
34
36
Chapter 5: Conclusion & Recommendations
 What is an example of an SSI Elementary Classroom in Singapore?
40


Learning Outcomes
SSI Activity – The GM food Debate – Environmental and Health
risks and benefits
40
41
Chapter 6: Discussion
 Affordances of SSI curriculum
 Constraints of such curriculum reform
 What are the professional developments needed in order to
carry out such an educational initiative?
45
45
47
Acknowledgements
49
References
50
Appendices
 Appendix A: Pedagogical Relationships Between Teacher and
Students’ SSI Discourse
 Appendix B: Summary of Reflective Judgment Stages
 Appendix C: List of prepared questions for Dr. Dana Zeidler
 Appendix D: List of questions for Teachers
 Appendix E: Interview Transcript of Dr. Dana Zeidler
 Appendix F: Interview Transcript with Mr. Michael Long
 Appendix G: Interview Transcript with Mr. Daniel Hutton
 Appendix H: Worksheet - In The Heat of Exchange
 Appendix I: Reflection - You be Your Own Judge
 Appendix J: Proposed Pedagogical Details Using GM Foods as a
Controversial SSI
53
54
55
57
58
68
71
73
74
75
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Abstract
My project focuses on the scientific practices in the classroom that will more effectively
prepare students for the 21st Century through the infusion ofcharacter and citizenship
education, an application of moral reasoning. I am interested in exploring moral
reasoning and ethical issues in the context of science via students participating actively
in scientific practices and discourse to prepare learners for the 21st Century. My four
research questions are:
1. How can we more effectively teach scientific practices and discourse in the learning
of Science in Singapore?
2. What are the elements of scientific practices and discourse in which elementary
students can participate?
3. How can we more effectively integrate moral reasoning in the learning of science in
Singapore?
4. What will the elementary science lesson be like when it integrates moral reasoning
in the learning of science?
I conducted a telephone interview with Dr. Dana Zeidler, a world-wide leader in the area
of socioscientific issues (SSI), in using SSI as a means to achieve scientific literacy. I
also conducted email interviews with Primary Teachers who teach Science. They are
also professional developers who helped fellow colleagues develop primary science
educators both in USA and Singapore. A sample lesson unit, which integrates moral
reasoning in science teaching, is then proposed and compared to one that was
commonlytaught.
1
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Chapter 1: Introduction
Problem Statement
In order to better prepare our students to be responsible global citizens of the 21 st
Century, educators need to ask ourselves, “Are we preparing our students well for the
future, so that they will be equipped with the necessary skills to cope with the
challenges that may not be foreseen today?” As educators, we are not just educating
our learners in content and skills that are applicable to the subject, but also in
developing their character education. I would like to reflect on the current scientific
practices in the primary school classroom, and then ask how we may improve upon our
current practices in order to help learners make responsible decisions in the future.
Purpose of My Project
My project focuses on the scientific practices in the classroom that will more effectively
prepare students for the 21st Century through the infusion ofcharacter and citizenship
education, an application of moral reasoning. I am interested in exploring moral
reasoning and ethical issues in the context of science via students participating actively
in scientific practices and discourse to prepare learners for the 21st Century.
2
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Research Questions
My research questions are:
1. How can we more effectively teach scientific practices and discourse in the learning
of Science in Singapore?
2. What are the elements of scientific practices and discourse in which elementary
students can participate?
3. How can we more effectively integrate moral reasoning in the learning of science in
Singapore?
4. What will the elementary science lesson be like when it integrates moral reasoning
in the learning of science?
3
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Chapter 2: Literature review
What are the goals of Science Education?
“According to Albert Einstein, the goal of education is “to produce independent thinking
and acting individuals.” The eventual goal of science education is to produce individuals
capable of understanding and evaluating information that is, purports to be, scientific in
nature and of making decisions that incorporate that information appropriately and
furthermore, to produce a sufficient number and diversity of skilled and motivated future
scientists, engineers, and other science-based professionals.
The science curriculum in the elementary grades … should be designed for all students
to develop critical basic knowledge and basic skills, interests, and habits of mind that
will lead to productive efforts to learn and understand the subject more deeply in later
grades.”(National Academy of Science, 2007)
In the book “Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8”,
these are the 5 reasons to teach science and they are:
“1. Science is a significant part of human culture and represents one of the pinnacles
of human thinking capacity.
2. It provides a laboratory of common experience for development of language,
logic, and problem-solving skills in the classroom.
3. A democracy demands that its citizens make personal and community decisions
about issues in which scientific information plays a fundamental role, and they
hence need a knowledge of science as well as an understanding of science
methodology.
4. For some students, it will become a lifelong vocation or avocation.
4
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
5. The nation is dependent on the technical and scientific abilities of its citizens for
its economic competitiveness and national needs.” (National Academy of Science,
2007, p. 34)
In Singapore, where our only natural resource is human resource, the goals of science
education as stated above are extremely relevant. The goals lead and support the other
areas of education in developing our students into individuals who can make decisions
based on the given information, however limited, for the betterment of themselves and
of the society.
The significance of nature of science (NOS) as a goal for science education is also wellestablished (Harding & Hare, 2000; Irez, 2006, Khishfe& Lederman, 2006;
McComas&Almazroa, 1998) – as cited inZeidler, Sadler, Applebaum and Callahan,
2009 --so explicit NOS instruction is a given for any high quality science curriculum. If
we were to look at the perspectives of looking at the broad learning goals for students in
learning science, the book mentioned above also stated 4 Strands of Scientific
Proficiency that address the knowledge and reasoning skills that students must
eventually acquire in order to be fully proficient in science. These strands are also a
means to an end such that students must be engaged in these practices in order to
develop theses proficiencies.
“Students who are proficient in science:
1. know, use, and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world;
2. generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations;
3. understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge; and
5
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
4. participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.”(National Academy
of Sciences, 2007, p. 36)3
It is also noted that students across K-8 are more likely to have a better understanding
of science if they are provided learning opportunities that attend to all four strands.
(National Academy of Sciences, p. 38)4
According to the Singapore Primary Science Syllabus 2008,“central to the Singapore
Primary Science Curriculum Framework is the inculcation of the spirit of scientific
inquiry. The conduct of inquiry is founded on three integral domains of (a) Knowledge,
Understanding and Application, (b) Skills and Processes and (c) Ethics and Attitudes,
which are essential of the practice of science. As and where the topics lend themselves,
the technological applications, social implications and the value aspects of science are
also considered.” (Curriculum Planning & Development Division, 2007, p. 1) The
framework serves as a guide for teachers to consider in their teaching. There are
parallels between the Strands of Scientific Proficiencies and the Primary Science
Curriculum Framework, such that all thedomains stated in the Framework bring about
the learning goals in all the strands of Scientific Proficiencies. However, the assessment
of the learning of science is usually focused on the knowledge and skills, as tested in
the National Examination - Primary School Leaving Examination. The nature and
development of scientific knowledge and productive participation are very much done in
the process of learning but not commonly assessed if not, at all.
If science education is to produce individuals capable of understanding and evaluating
information and these individuals are making decisions that will impact the society, then
the role of science educators is to help guide the learners to be able to make
6
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
responsible decisions that will then help prepare them to be responsible global citizens
of the 21st Century.
What are the elements of scientific practices and discourse?
One of the 4 StrandsofScientific Proficiency is for the students to participate
productively in scientific practices and discourse. What are the elements of scientific
practice and discourse? When students participate in scientific practice, they ask
questions, talk and write about their problems, argue about different ways of looking at
phenomena and interpreting evidence and build models, design and conduct
investigations and come to more nuanced and empirically valid understandings of
natural phenomena.
In the process of participating in scientific practices, students learn to see science as
valuable and interesting and hence, tend to become good learners and participants in
science. This will then have a positive impact on their motivation and attitude towards
science. Besides that, in order to participate in scientific discourse, students will need to
be critical thinkers as they tease out the relationship between ideas and evidence – for
example, to decide what a theory predicts for a particular experiment or whether a
proposed explanation is consistent with some observation. In so doing, the students
may bring in alternative points of views, which are very much affected by their own
experiences. Students will learn to value alternative points of views in the process as
long as they are within the norms of science and logic. Hence, they begin to understand
the norms in the participating scientific debates. (National Academy of Sciences, 2007)
7
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
How should teachers be involved in the scientific practice and discourse? Apart from
preparing the curriculum and leading it, should they be participating in the discourse
with the students? Lemke (1990) stated that in a debate that involves the teacher and
the pupils, teachers usually have the last word by appealing to an authoritative scientific
principle. Hence, the teacher has the authority to control the topic of discussion. Lemke
(1990) also stated that teachers ask questions that fit their own thematic pattern and as
a result, they do not hear their students’ thematic very much as it is difficult to put aside
their own thematic pattern. Therefore, in order to let students have meaningful debate in
science, the authority of the debate should be rested upon the shoulders of the
community of learners more.
Are the elements of scientific practices and discourse necessary for elementary
students?
“If one looks from the perspective of science as a process of reasoning about evidence,
one sees that logical argumentation and problem-solving skills are important.” (National
Academy of Sciences, 2007, p.35)
When students participate in scientific practices in the classroom, they can have a
better understanding of scientific argumentation and explanations, get to engage in the
construction of scientific evidence, representations and models and furthermore, reflect
on how scientific knowledge is constructed. (National Academy of Sciences, 2007) This
process further deepens their understanding of science and the nature of science.
Bricker and Bell (2009) identify argumentation as a “core epistemic practice” of science
and accordingly claim that the goal of science education must not only be mastery of
scientific concepts but also learning how to engage in scientific discourse. Bricker and
8
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Bell (2009) advocate exploiting the roots of argumentation in everyday conversation. All
young chidren have the capacity to learn science. Even when they are pre-schoolers,
they have the rich knowledge of the natural world, they demonstrate causal reasoning
and are able to differentiate reliable nad unreliable sources of information. (National
Academy of Sciences, 2007) It is us, the adults, who underestimate the ability of young
children. Children of various ages come into the classroom with different of ideas and
conceptual frameworks that incorporate their experiences of the natural world and other
information that they have learned. Hence, a teacher needs to evaluate the chidren’s
level of metacognition about his or her knowledge, skills and concepts in order to move
them in all these areas. (National Academy of Sciences, 2007)
What is moral reasoning?
The logic behind the reasoning and judgments of an individual that are expressed
through words and actions that are of central importance in observing and
understanding moral development in the traditional Kohlbergian sense. Moral judgment
of any person is the expression of the cognitive processes of that person.Hence, moral
reasoning judgments includes the descriptive judgments of right and good applied to
social situations (Kohlberg, 1986) Moral reasoning is based on specific features of
thought processes throughout different stages of development, and reflects the
individual’s interpretation of rules, principles in conflict situations. One’s reasons for
moral reflect an overall mental structure, which arises through interactions between the
individual and his/her environment. (Zeidler & Keefer, 2005)
9
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
What is Socioscientific Issues (SSI)?
“Socioscientific issues” (SSI) represent a variety of social dilemmas with conceptual,
procedural, or technological associations with science (Fleming, 1986; Kotstǿ,2001;
Patronis, Potari, &Spiliotopoulou, 1999; Zeidler, Walker, Ackett, & Simmons, 2002).
They involve current issues which are controversial and create debates among
members of the community. These issues often stem from the use of biotechnology
such as cloning, stem cell research, genetically modified foods and environmental
challenges such as global climate change. (Sadler & Zeidler, 2005)
What is the relevance of teaching moral reasoning in Science?
The Social Emotional Learning Framework(2009) and the New Framework for the for
21st Century Competencies and Student Outcomes(2010) were introduced by the
Ministry of Education, Singapore to better position our students to take advantage of
opportunities in a globalised world with the appropriate competencies such as making
responsible decision and being socially aware. One of the 4 principles that guide Social
Emotional Learning is the teaching of these associated skills to students can be explicit,
through infusion or through incidental means.
In the opening address by MrHengSweeKiat, Minister for Education, at the Ministry of
Education (MOE) Work Plan Seminar held on September 22, 2011, he called upon the
need to develop our students holistically. In his speech, he emphasized that the heart of
the 21st Century Framework is values. Our education system needs to be even more
student-centric and sharpened our focus in holistic education – centred on values and
character education. As he put it in another way, value in our learners and learning
10
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
values.If values provide the philosophical underpinning, character development makes
these values come alive. Character development is about developing social emotional
competencies, and the habits and inner disposition based on sound values to act in a
consistent way. Values of citizenship will help to prepare our students to be informed,
rugged and resilient citizens who will stay united in times of adversities.
SSI are inherently associated with morality as the students explored moral
considerations pertaining to a wide variety of scientific issues such as genetic
engineering, animal research and environmental issues. SSI curriculum afforded for the
exploration of character. (Zeidler, Sadler, Applebaum and Callahan, 2009)A study done
by Fowler, Zeidler and Sadler (2009) showed that regular exposure to SSI can promote
moral sensitivity development. Thus, teaching within the context of socioscientific issues
can contribute to students’ overall moral development. As SSI issues are complex,
students who have to make decisions regarding these issues are already exposed to
what they would be required of them as citizens of a democratic society.(Berkowtiz&
Simmons, 2003)
How can moral reasoning be integrated with learning of science?
In any field of science, there are components within that impact on the environment and
society. Hence, science curriculum is intertwined with SSIs. The use of SSI in the
classrooms allows students to explore their implications and relevance from the
perspectives by various parties in the community. Through SSI, teachers present
students with social or moral dilemmas that entail students having to think critically as
they analyze and synthesise scientific information to defend a particular decision. In so
11
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
doing, the students’ understanding of the nature of science and scientific knowledge are
enhanced together with their social and moral development. (Dolan, Nichols & Zeidler,
2009). Therefore, when SSI is used in the classroom, teachers align their curriculum not
just with the standards of science as dictated by the syllabus but also for more
overarching reasons for teaching science (See Goals of Science Education). Dolan,
Nichols & Zeidler (2009) have also shown some examples at which elementary
teachers embedded scientific content in controversial social issues that engage
students in constructive discourse.
What are the considerations that teachers must have in constructing such
lesson?
Teachers must first have a clear understanding of the science content and conceptual
understading of science that they want the students to learn before crafting any
interesting dilemmas. In Chapter 4 of the book “The Role of Moral Reasoning on
Socioscientific Issues and Discourse in Science Education”, Zeidler, Osnourne,
Erduran, Simmons & Monk (2003) highlighted that teachers consider the folowing points
when before constructing SSI curriculum:
1. Stage-appropriateness of the possible moral and ethical issues.The selection of the
topic has to ensure students’ interest and engagement. In order to get them
engaged, these real-world issues must be relevant to them or at least they must see
the reason for them to study these issues.
2. Pedagogical techniques on socioscientific issues as a regular part of science
instruction. The more they get to practise debating for their own or perspective
12
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
assigned to them, the better they get at the line of reasoning and develop their
critical thinking.
3. Personal interests, skills and commitment. As SSIs are current issues, hence
teachers will need to invest a lot of time in sieving out materials for use in the
classroom. The teachers need to decipher the reliable from the unreliable sources
and to decide whether they will want to use information from the unreliable sources
to allow students to evaluate. It also takes time to construct an ill-structured
controversial issues that allow students to examine from the various perspectives
and not looking for the “one right” answer or a scenario where science or technology
can “save the day”.
4. Personal knowledge on fallacies common to argumentation and the sources of those
errors. Teachers need to know how to help students develop their logic in reasoning
through argument. It is noted that skills to differentiate sources of errors have to be
taught explicitly to the students.
5. Evaluating the quality of argument
Teachers need to help students explicitly address issues of uncertainty in judgmentmaking and examine their assumptions about the knowledge gained and how it is
gained. It is also noted in the research that argumentation skills have to be explicitly
taught in order for students to understand and develop them.
Last but not least, expect uncertainties on how students react to controversial issues.
Teachers need to respect students’ assumptions and give them the choice to take the
intellectual and personal risks that are required for their development. Teachers have to
let go of their authority during a discourse so that students can engage fully and let
13
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
them listen to each other. (See Appendix A:Pedagogical Relationships Between
Teacher and Students’ SSI Discourse) However, teachers will also need to be able to
pull the discussion back should the students deviate from the conceptual understanding
of science.
How can we assess the effectiveness of such lessons? In terms of argument –
content and process. How to assess the quality of argument?
As integrating SSI in a discourse will always include the science content, the
assessment of the science content can still be done through the traditional modes of
assessments. In order for the students to expound on SSI in the context of science,
students will get a deeper conceptual understanding of the content as they will need to
understand the relevance of the science content in a real-world context. Therefore, the
assessment of their learning should be on the conceptual understanding rather than just
rote recall.
Zeidler, Osnourne, Erduran, Simmons & Monk (2003) stated that the quality of
argumentation can be assessed in 2 ways – content and process. The quality of
scientific reasoning gives the content of the argumentation. Zeidler (1997) identified 5
major factors that affect the quality of scientific reasoning:
1. Validity concern – based on erroneous premises
2. Naïve conceptions of argument structure – intuitive; sampling information that is
consistent with their claims, leading to confirmation bias
3. Effects of core beliefs on argument – acquiring evidence to support one’s
position based on his core beliefs
14
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
4. Inadequate sampling of evidence – insufficient evidence that results in hasty
conclusions – either overgeneralizaton or giving equal weight all and tremendous
amount of data (example of giving too much emphasis on rare occurrences)
5. Altering representation of argument and evidence – students change or modify
the facts, presuppositions or premise of an initial problem or argument; exceeds
the boundaries of evidence presented thereby creating bias in the decisionmaking
15
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Zeidler, Osnourne, Erduran, Simmons & Monk (2003) adapted Toulmin’s Argument
Pattern (Toulmin, 1958) and proposed these 5 Levels of Argument:
Level 1: Arguments that are a simple claim vs a counter claim or a claim vs claim.
Level 2: Arguments consist of claims with warrants, backings or data that do not
contain any rebuttals.
Level 3: Arguments that consist of a series of claims or counter claims with
eitherdata, warrant or backings with occasional weak rebuttal.
Level 4: Arguments that consist of a claim with a clearly identifiable rebuttal. Such
an argument may have several claims or counter claims as well but this is
not necessary.
Level 5: This is an extended argument with more than one rebuttal.
Zeidler, Sadler, Applebaum and Callahan (2009) stated that Reflective Judgment Model
(RJM) is an effective tool for evaluating the efficacy of SSI in the classroom over a long
term basis. This is because there are many parallels between SSI and the
characteristics of the Reflective Judgment Model (RJM) and these include the use of
evidence-based reasoning, consideration of the role of authority, understanding the
relationship between the role of knowledge and the status of epistemic beliefs. (See
Appendix B: Summary of Reflective Judgment Stages)
16
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Chapter 3: Method
Procedure
In this project, I gathered qualitative inputs from a leading researcher who has studied
SSI in the science curriculum and from science teachers and professional developers in
the teaching of science. The details follow:
1. I conducted a telephone interview with Dr. Zeidler, a worldwide leader in the area of
socioscientific issues (SSI) to ask him to share some of his insights and findings on
the major investigations. (See Appendix C for the list of prepared questions)
2. I also conducted an email interview with both a Lead Teacher/Science and an
elementary science teacher from US. Besides English and Mathematics. Both these
teachers were experienced classroom science teachers and conduct training for
teachers in the area of science teaching. These helped me to compare the cultural
context in integrating SSI in science curriculum in elementary schools. Their inputs
allowed me to have a firsthand knowledge on their feelings and thoughts on
integrating the elements of scientific practices, discourse and SSI in science
curriculum and also, the constraints that they face over the teaching of science. As
both are also professional developers, their inputs also helped me to see the
implications of in-service professional development that teachers will require in
implementing SSI in classrooms. (See Appendix D for the list of questions)
I interpreted the interviews and conversations and then as subsequently, I proposed a
unit of SSI lesson that can be implemented in an Upper Primary science classroom.
17
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Data Analysis
Summary of Interview with Dr. Dana Zeidler
(See Appendix E: Interview Transcript with Dr. Dana Zeidler)
1. What were some of the major investigations and findings of his more recent studies
in this area since the publication of your book “The Role of Moral Reasoning on
Socioscientific Issues and Discourse in Science Education”?
Since the publication of the book “The Role of Moral Reasoning on Socioscientific
Issues and Discourse in Science Education”, Dr. Zeidler has continued to work on
the different aspects of SSI in curriculum and a summary of some of the most
notable ones that were mentioned by him is shownbelow:
1. “Advancing Reflective Judgment through Socioscientific Issues” by Zeidler,
Sadler, Applebaum and Callahan (2009) in the Journal of Research in
Science Teaching.
In this long-term quantitative and qualitative study, it was shown that the
reflective students who had gone through SSI with the teachers were more
sophisticated in their epistemological reasoningand they had also shown to
have better reflective judgment as compared to the control group. This study
has become a leader in itself as more studies followed after which in terms of
epistemological leanings SSI has on science and the knowledge about
science through ethical and moral discussion.
18
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
2. “Moral Sensitivity in the Context of Sociocientific Issues in High School
Science Students” by Fowler, Zeidler and Sadler (2009) in International
Journal Of Science Education.
The study showed that SSI enhanced High School Students’ capacity to
empathise and become more morally sensitive. Hence, indirectly promoting
the character development of the students.
3. “Promoting Discourse about SocioscientificIssues throughScaffoldedInquiry”
by Walker, K.A., & Zeidler, D.L. (2007) in International Journal of Science
Education
The was an exploratory case study of a classroom-based learning treatment.
It showed the High School studentswere able to engage in better quality
argument through scaffolding.
4. “Patterns of Informal Reasoning in the Context of Socioscientific Decisionmaking” by Sadler, T. D., & Zeidler, D. L.(2005) in the Journal of Research in
Science Teaching(This article was awarded JRST Outstanding Article for
2005.)
This award was given for one article that has made the most impact in the
field of science teaching for that year. The study showed that the emotive
thinking would be as big as rational thinking and emotive thinking can be
highly-developed as any other kinds of reasoning, and so establishing the role
of emotions play in moral reasoning in the classroom.
19
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
2. How do you believe your research has influenced the classroom practices in terms
of promoting moral reasoning and examining ethical issues in the context of science,
particularly in the elementary schools?
Even though Dr. Zeidler had done a lot of work in the college, high school and
middle school levels, some of his recent worksinvolved the elementary students as
well. These studies gave the readers, in particular, the teachers a picture of what
SSI looks like in an elementary classroom and the theory behind there. His studies
also showed that the teachers were able to conduct very interesting discussions that
were age-appropriate and the students were engaged in. Below was a summary of 3
recent works that he had cited:
1. “Using Socisoscientific Issues in Primary Classrooms” by Dolan, Nichols &
Zeidler (2009) in the Journal of Elementary Science Education.
This is a piece of reading that shows 3 examples of the use of SSI in a 5thgrade classroom were shown – 1 on Earth Science, 1 on biology and 1 on
physics. All examples include plenty of hands-on, inquiry-based activities that
move from content and process skills
2. “Socioscientific Issues: Theory and Practice” by Zeidler & Nichols (2009) in
the Journal of Elementary Science Education
This is a short and succinct article that captures the theoretical point of view
of SSI which makes it an easy reading piece for the teachers. It is noted in
this article that he acknowledged that productive argumentation and debate
might not always be practical or even possible in every classroom, especially
if teachers have little experience managing it. However, it also suggested that
20
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
teachers could guide the class in discussion first and the practice in these
discussions could then help prepare both teachers and students to
incorporate their behaviours that will make argumentation to be more
productive.
3. “Integrating Argumentation into Elementary Classroom” by Dolan & Zeidler
(2009) in the journal - Science and Chidren.
This is another short article, especially written for the teachers, to show
examples of integrating argumentation into the elementary classroom.
3. What is the relationship between Socioscientific Issues (SSI) and the Nature of
Science (NOS)?
Dr. Zeidler stated that when students engaged in the SSI area, they need to discern
real information from the false, reliable sources from the unreliable ones. They
should make judgments based on evidence, i.e., evidence-based reasoning. Even
though they argued with passion and emotions, they were also making decisions
based on data-driven information. They need to find data, decipher what is data,
how to interpret and evaluate the data and then using the data to frame discussion.
These reflect closely the developmental nature of science, that science is tentative
and empirically-driven. He also mentioned that if you enter into a full-fledged SSI
classroom that is well-run by a teacher, the students would be naturally engaged in
the nature of science reasoning. He thinks that the students can begin to have a
sophisticated understanding of the nature of science by doing SSI, particularly if the
teacher makes clear what some of those connections are. He also thinks that if
21
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
teachers do SSI well, not only will the students do the nature of science, but also,
increase their understanding of the nature of science. He also quoted 2 articles that
he had done to address the relationship between SSI and NOS and they are
“Beyond STS: A research- based framework for socioscientific issues education" by
Zeidler, Sadler, Simmons &Howes (2005) in Science Education and “Advancing
Reflective Judgment through Socioscientific Issues” by Zeidler, Sadler, Applebaum
and Callahan (2009) in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching. The second
piece was highlighted in his answer to the first question and the first article was
written to provoke the readers to think beyond STS and to address SSI as it
subsumes in NOS.
4. There are some implications in science teacher preparation and professional
development in order for effective teaching of scientific practices and SSI that were
listed in chapter 4 of your book. These included: teachers should be knowledgeable
regarding the issue, skillful in guiding the class discussions, familiar with logic
necessary for critical thinking, and also have a strong working knowledge of NOS.
Which of these, or any other not mentioned, do you think is the most fundamental
one? Why?
Dr. Zeidler thought that the teachers should ask themselves what content they
wanted the students to learn first, in terms of conceptual understanding of concepts.
That should be the driving force in trying to create the different scenario in SSI.
Besides that, it would be an asset if teachers were to continue to ask questions.
However, the key ingredient that was emphasized by him was the ability to be more
22
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
hands off, so that the students could begin and direct the discussions, instead of the
teacher directing them. He noted that it would be difficult for the teachers to give up
this control at first and it would be a learning curve notjust for the students, but the
teachers as well. He mentioned that letting go of the control in the discussion, to
allow the students to generate the questions and then think about the best way to go
forth from is very much like what a good inquiry is. The teachers would need to step
in to point to them the direction at which they can find good knowledge. He used the
metaphor of “releasing the reins”to illustrate that just like riding on the horse, we
release the horse to allow it to pick up speed and go where it thinks is important,
teachers let the students direct the discussion and pursue what is important to them.
On top of that, characteristics that work well for the teacher to be a good mentor,
facilitator, guide and mediator would work well as well. He had written more of it,
from the perspectives of the teachers, in Chapter 16 of the book that Troy Sadler
has edited. The title of the book is ““Socioscientific Issues in the Classroom” by
Springer. The article is called “Enacting a Socioscientific Issues Classroom:
Transformative Transformations”.
5. What are some main considerations for the teachers in developing a discourse in
SSI?
Dr. Zeidler thought that the teachers would need to have a plan for the
lesson.Teachers would also need to be flexible and adaptable to let the
conversations to go in different directions, even if those directions were not intended
by them.He shared that he would usually have a few key questions that he would
23
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
want the students to consider and that he would wait for them to ask, but he would
step back in when there is need to get the students back on track. Hence, the need
to stay focused in the intent of the conversations, as mentioned in his respond to
question 4.
6. How does the role of formative assessment play in the evaluation of the quality of an
argument regarding SSI?
Dr. Zeidler acknowledged that they had not written much on assessment and that is
probably something that would need to be written more about. However, Dr. Zeidler
and his students have created many SSI units over the years. He conducted a
course in which his students have to put together a unit plan for SSI. He cited the
various ways to evaluate students’ product:

Traditional content-driven test for the content, preferably one that focuses on
conceptual understanding than just rote recall

Posters

Video products

Online postings such as video blogs for one another where there is
information and content

Write a letter to an elected representative,such as in the USA a congress
person or to a senator, or to a newspaper.
Therefore, there is a need to evaluate from all kinds of different ways in order to
assess students’ conceptual understanding and conceptual argumentation skills.
24
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
7. One of the thingsthat is of concern to the teachers is the state examination. That is
also highlighted in his book at which he hadmentioned about the constraints of time
that the teacher would find in trying to initiate SSI or even to incorporate SSI in the
regular lesson.How have you seen the influence of the book on classroom teaching?
How open are the teachers in terms of SSI? Are they more conscious?
Dr. Zeidler said that it depends on how you approach the teachers with this. In his
case, he has a captive audience which students would need to take his course as
they are seeking a Master degree and certification. Like anything new, there were
sceptisms such as it always sounds like I can never do this, it is too much work and
it takes up too much time. But most of them would have to doSSI at one point or
another as part of the course work. They have to try a few of these in the classroom.
With respect to concern of the different national and states tests and standards,
teachers can always find ways to align what you do with these national standards. In
Florida, all students have to take FCAT Test and it was shown that students who
have gone through SSI are doing better than students who did not go through SSI. It
was also shown that teachers who have been doing SSI with the students could see
that the cause for the increase in theirstudents’ performance in the tests wasthem
having a better understanding of the conceptual background of science.
Dr. Zediler also mentioned that though it takes a lot of time up front to create a good
unit but if the teachers could do one unit, and then do a second unit in the
subsequent year, and through sharing it with others and working together in
developing more units with them later, the SSI units can be increased and enhanced
over time. The pay offs for a good SSI unit is that at least, the students get
25
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
interested in science and they are engaged in doing it. In terms of looking at the
overarching concepts for the outcomes in science education, students will be more
educated in science literacy, which he had written some more articles on. He framed
science literacy in terms of being able to make decisions, in which students would
need to consider the environmental, social, economical impact on their decision.
Hence, he could convince the teachers in the classroom that doing SSIis a
necessary component of what it means to be scientific literate. Most of the teachers
began to understand that argument over time. And in fact, they think that instead of
taking away time from other things, they were covering more things doing an SSI
unit.
8. What advice would you have for elementary science teachers in Singapore who wish
to incorporate SSI in their practices?
Dr. Zeidler shared this,“I think you owe it to your students, owe it to yourself, to try
new things not because they are ‘new’ but because there is enough of solid
research-based and theoretical-based to show these things that are effective and
there is a whole line of research out there that show the interests gauged in care in
highly developed character and highly developed in understanding of science, highly
developed in reflective judgment can enhance argumentation or discourse skills.”He
was saying that the teachers need to keep an open mind and try doing it not
because it is novel and different but because research has shown that it is effective
in student learning and in engaging students in learning. He also said that teachers
will also know what is being scientific literate and judge for themselves if it is a good
26
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
research. Besides the students, teachers would also have fun doing it. He then
shared this short story, that back in the 1980s, when co-operative learning was
known, one professor said this to him, “Oh, I tried that co-operative learning one time
but it didn’t work.” He then said that he has not done anything for one time and could
get effective. His point was that in order for teachers to be effective, we have to
practise to get more proficient at it over time. So by analogy, doing SSI is something
that may not go well the first time, or may go real well, or maybe something in
between, but with any good practitioner, teachers should reflect their practice over
time and by simply doing and learning from it; teasing them, take and keep what
work well, and throw away with what do not work well. Dr. Zeidler thought that
teacher would improve over time.
27
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Summary of Interview with Mr. Michael Long (from the perspective of a teacher
and teacher developer in Singapore)
(See Appendix F: Interview Transcript with Mr. Michel Long)
1. How do you feel about the elements of scientific practices and discourse in
elementary classroom? (Elements of scientific practices: 1. Science as a process of
logical reasoning about evidence - learning to think scientifically is a matter of
acquiring problem-solving strategies for co-ordinating theory and evidence,
distinguishing patterns of evidence that do and do not support a definitive
conclusion, and understanding the logic of experimental design; 2. Science as a
process of Theory Change - knowledge of science evolves through gradual
elaboration of existing theories through new facts and knowledge, the process of
theory or conceptual change; 3. Science as a participation of participation in the
culture of scientific practices - individual scientists or groups are always a part of
wider social environment. Discourse - getting the students to communicate their
thought by word - talking; conversation)
Mr. Long felt that it is time for teachers to realize and acknowledge:
1. That students come in varying degree of preconceptions about the world;
2. The amount of teachers’ knowledge is finite;
3. That children learn differently (from each other and from their teachers’
perception);
4. That science can be effectively taught when the learner learns it at the
conceptual level.
28
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Hence, he felt that the traditional mode of teacher when teacher is the one
transmitting the knowledge is outmoded and that a more interactive, participatory
and inquiry-based need to be used in the classroom.
As interactive mode of learning would require the students to work collaboratively,
effective discourse or communication would be necessary to convey their ideas and
opinions. Besides that, collective views and decisions are more powerful than
individual perspectives.
Participatory type of learning would allow students to construct their own learning,
allowing them to own their learning.
Inquiry-based learning would allow students to discover and correct their own
mis/preconceptions. It would also science is empirical in nature and demands
systematic investigations and logical reasoning and argumentation to expound on
the “truth” in the discovery/theory/concept.
2. How do you feel about infusing socioscientific issues in the elementary science
curriculum?(Socioscientific Issues are scientific issues that are of interest to the
society. E.g., Gene therapy, alcohol, stem cell research, diet and obesity, cosmetic
surgery etc.)
Mr. Long felt that at the elementary level, values can be infused into the curriculum
especially when issues pertaining to ethics are involved, e.g., euthanasia and
animal-testing, However, he thought that the degree of expectation has to vary
according to the maturity/cognitive level of the pupils. He also quoted the Chinese
saying - Renzhichu, xinben san(（人之初，性本善）It is the first 2 lines of the
29
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Chinese Classics – Three Character Classic （三字径）that states that man is born
to be fundamentally good in nature.) He felt that man, regardless of age,is
compassionate and therefore, even children have their set of value systems. The
question is whether they are aligned with that of society. Hence, gaining a good
grounding (on their values) at a young age is important so that they can turn out right
(being an asset than a liability) to contribute to society in the future.
3. What are some constraints and concerns over teaching of science in the elementary
school?
These are the concerns and constraints that Mr. Long identified:
1. Depth and breadth of science knowledge that the teacher has isnot made known;
2. Confidence/comfort level of the teachers in teaching science;
3. Insufficient time to complete the science syllabus as there are too few periods in
comparison to English and Mathematics. There is that disparity. However, the
weighting for the Primary School Leaving Examination for these subjects is the
same;
4. Teachers’ lack of pedagogical skills in teaching science. As they are not
competent in teaching science, they focus more on the content in their teaching;
5. Curriculum focuses on breadth and not depth. He used the analogy that the
curriculum is a mile wide but only an inch deep as there is a wide coverageof
many topics and hence, students cannot engage in deep learning before they
move on to the next topic;
30
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
6. Lack of integration of science with other subjects such as literacy, art, social
studies etc.
He also suggested a topic that can be integrated with other subjects:
For example the scientific construct “Energy “ may be integrated in other subjects
in the following ways:
•
Read stories (fiction/non-fiction) related to energy (discovery of new sources,
and forms) to integrate science with literacy
•
Create a fictional story about the above to integrate science with literacy
•
Draw a scene of the story written (eg. setting of the story, etc) to integrate
science with art
31
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Summary and Analysis of Interview with Mr. Daniel Hutton (from the perspective
of a teacher and teacher developer in Maryland, USA)
(See Appendix G: Interview Transcript with Mr. Daniel Hutton)
1. How do you feel about the elements of scientific practices and discourse in
elementary classroom? (Elements of scientific practices: 1. Science as a process of
logical reasoning about evidence - learning to think scientifically is a matter of
acquiring problem-solving strategies for co-ordinating theory and evidence,
distinguishing patterns of evidence that do and do not support a definitive
conclusion, and understanding the logic of experimental design; 2. Science as a
process of Theory Change - knowledge of science evolves through gradual
elaboration of existing theories through new facts and knowledge, the process of
theory or conceptual change; 3. Science as a participation of participation in the
culture of scientific practices - individual scientists or groups are always a part of
wider social environment. Discourse - getting the students to communicate their
thought by word - talking; conversation)
Mr. Hutton felt that there is potential for good activities in practicing science as a
process of logical reasoning about evidence but he also felt that teachers would
need more support and training to do this. He felt that the concepts of science as a
process of Theory Change and Science as a participation in the culture of scientific
practices are not explicit in the curriculum at present. He also felt that student are
encouraged to talk with each other, however, he also noted that there is no real
guidance on how to make this talk productive.
32
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
2. How do you feel about infusing socioscientific issues in the elementary science
curriculum?(Socioscientific Issues are scientific issues that are of interest to the
society. E.g., Gene therapy, alcohol, stem cell research, diet and obesity, and
cosmetic surgery.)
Mr. Hutton felt that there is a lot of emphasis on the environment in the new
curriculum.
3. What are some constraints and concerns over teaching of science in the elementary
school?
These are the concerns and constraints that Mr. Hutton has listed:
1. Limited content knowledge of the teachers;
2. Limited knowledge of constructivist practices of the teachers;
3. Whether there is sufficient time and money for training of the teachers
33
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Chapter 4: Interpretation
Interpretation of Interview with Dr. Dana Zeidler
1. There was much research conducted on SSI since the inception of integrating SSI in
the science curriculum, as seen by the number of articles that was quoted by Dr.
Zeidler.
2. It was also noted that much of the research was conducted with college, high school
and middle school students but recent studies were also conducted on elementary
students. Results of studies across all age groups have shown positive results in
enhancing students’ engagement and understanding of the nature of science.
3. Dr. Zeidler also reiterated the parallels between SSI and NOS and this was further
described in details in one of his recent articles “Advancing Reflective Judgment
through Socioscientific Issues”.
4. In doing SSI, teachers need to be focused on the content and conceptual
understanding of what the students need to knowfirst. They need to plan the
curriculum with a few key questions in mind that wait for the students to bring up in
the course of discussion. Teachers also need to step back and let the students
engage in their discussions on their own and come in to steer the conversation back
on track when necessary.
5. A few of the recent studies illustrated explicit examples of using SSI in the
elementary classrooms, and they are also short articles to encourage teachers to
read up on.
6. Even though there were few articles written on formative assessment, Dr. Zeidler
and his students have come up with a number of SSI units over the years that
34
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
include how to evaluate student’s products. Products of assessment could vary from
traditional content-driven testing to students’ creative products such as blogs and
videos that could include content.
7. The affordances of doing good SSI in classroom are to increase students’
engagement and understanding of science. Teachers could cover more content
when they are doing SSI with the students. Students who have gone through SSI
have also shown to have a better achievement score in State Examination thn those
who did not. (Example quoted on those who took the FCAT in Florida)
8. Teachers should keep an open mind when they try to implement theory-based
research in classroom such as integrating SSI in classroom and take time to practice
and reflect upon doing it.
35
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Interpretation of Interview with Mr. Michael Long and Mr. Daniel Hutton
•
While Mr. Long expressed the need for the teachers in Singapore to move towards
more interactive, participatory and inquiry-based lessons is necessary for the
teaching of science to be relevant and applicable to society and daily lives, Dr.
Hutton felt that there would be potential for good activities in infusing elements of
scientific practices and discourse in the classroom. However, Mr Hutton also voiced
out his concern that the concepts of science as Theory of Change and participation
in the culture of scientific practices are not explicit in the curriculum in Maryland,
USA. He also felt that there was no real guidance on how to encourage productive
talk among the students.
•
Mr. Long felt that values should be infused into the curriculum at the elementary
level, but the degree of expectations should vary according to the level of the
students. Based on his beliefs that span from the readings of the Chinese Classics
and culture, he believed that children should have a strong moral foundation at a
young age so that they can contribute to the society when they grow up. Mr. Hutton
believed that there was plenty of emphasis on the environmental issues as stated in
the new science curriculum.
•
Both Mr. Long and Mr. Hutton were concerned about the teachers’ limited content
knowledge and time. While Mr. Long was concerned over the time in covering a
breadth in the curriculum such that there was not enough time to engage in deep
learning while Mr. Hutton was concerned over the time for teachers’ training. Mr.
Long was also concerned over the teachers’ comfort level in teaching Science while
Mr. Hutton was concerned over the teachers’pedagogical knowledge on
36
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
constructivist practices. Mr. Hutton pointed out that money needed for training could
be a constraint while that was not highlighted by Mr. Long. Mr. Long pointed out the
lack of integration of science with other subjects which Mr. Hutton did not highlight.
Table 1: Comparison Table of Opinions expressed by 2 teachers, one from
Singapore and one from USA on scientific practices and discourse, SSI in science
curriculum and concerns over the teaching of science.
Opinions
Elements of scientific
practices and
discourse in
elementary
classroom
•
•
•
•
Infusing SSI in
elementary science
curriculum
•
•
Singapore
There is a need to move
towards more interactive,
participatory and inquirybased lessons is
necessary for the
teaching of science to be
relevant and applicable to
society and daily lives
Collective views are more
powerful than individuals’
Logical reasoning and
argumentation to help
students to expound on
the
concept/theory/discovery
Increase ownership of
learning
Values should be infused
into the curriculum at the
elementary level but the
degree of expectations
should vary according to
the level of the students
His beliefs that span from
the readings of the
Chinese Classics and
culture led him to think
that children should have
a strong moral foundation
at a young age so that
they can contribute to the
society when they grow
up
•
•
•
•
USA
Potential for good
activities in infusing
elements of scientific
practices and discourse
in the classroom
Concepts of science as
Theory of Change and
participation in the culture
of scientific practices are
not explicit in the
curriculum in Maryland,
USA
Though students are
encouraged to talk with
each other, there was no
real guidance on how to
encourage productive talk
among them
There was a lot of
emphasis on the
environmental issues as
stated in the new science
curriculum.
37
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Opinions
Constraints and
•
concerns over the
teaching of science in •
the elementary class
•
•
Singapore
Teachers’ limited content
knowledge and time.
Insufficient time to cover
curriculum that is broad
and hence, not enough
time to engage in deep
learning
Teachers are not comfort
or confident in teaching
Science
Lack of integration of
science with other
subjects
•
•
•
•
Anne Wong
USA
Teachers’ limited content
knowledge
Insufficient time for
teachers
Teachers’ lack of
pedagogical knowledge
on constructivist practices
Insufficient money for
teachers’ training
38
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Chapter 5 Conclusion & Recommendations
Conclusion & Recommendations
In this project, I did not set out to find which technique is best to teach science. I am
aware of the different modes of transmitting new knowledge for different purposes and
audience(e.g., see How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded
Edition, 2000) While lectures and traditional modes of teaching may be effective in
transmitting knowledge quickly to a big group of students and hands-on activities allow
them to ground on emergent knowledge, it is through participation in meaningful
discourse and argumentation that students come to be better critical thinkers, have
better conceptual understand of science and knowledge in science as they explore their
own beliefs, explain or argue their own perspectives and construct their own
understanding that is agreed by the community of learners. Therefore:
1. We can more effectively teach scientific practices and discourse in the learning of
science when students are participating productively in scientific practices and
discourse.
2. Elementary students can participate in all elements of scientific practices and
discourse. In order to develop our students to be more scientific literate, we need to
practice on all 4 strands of scientific proficiency.
“Students who are proficient in science:
1. know, use, and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world;
2. generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations;
3. understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge; and
4. participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.”(National
Academy of Sciences, 2007, p. 36)
39
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
3. I am also convinced that moral reasoning can be integrated more effectively in the
learning of science through the use of SSI.
4. A possible elementary science lesson that integrates moral reasoning through SSI in
the learning of science could follow the framework as shown below:
SSI
Scientific Context
Interactions
Science Content &
Concepts
Health
Benefits &
Risks
GM Food
Technology
Environmen
t
Overarching
understanding: How
does man interact
with the
environment?
What are the
consequences of
Man’s interaction
with its
surroundings?
What is an example of an SSI Elementary Classroom in Singapore?
Detailing the learning outcomes in SSI on GM Foods that align with Primary Science
Curriculum, Social-Emotional Learning and 21st Century Competencies
Knowledge,
Understanding and
Application
 To give example of
man’s impact (both
positive and negative)
on the environment.
Learning Outcomes
Skills and Processes


Collect and record

information regarding
genetically-modified
foods

Put up an argument
for/against the sale of
GM foods (21st Century
Competency –
Ethics and Attitudes
Show concern for
Human’s impact on the
environment.
Value individual effort
and team work. [This is
aligned with SEL
(Social Awareness and
Relationship
40
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Communication)






Anne Wong
Management)]
SEL (Self Awareness)
– To help pupils to
recognize their
personal values
SEL (Social
Awareness) – To show
respect for others
SEL (Social
Awareness) – To
encourage students to
be more open to
perspective taking and
appreciate diversity
SEL (Relationship
Management) – To
help pupils to reduce
interpersonal conflicts
that result in negative
emotions
SEL (Self
Management) – To
help pupils to better
manage themselves in
controlling impulse
SEL& 21st Century
Skill (Responsible
Decision Making) – To
make decision on SSI
based on analysis,
evaluation and
reflection of
information and
discussion
SSI Activity – The GM food Debate – Environmental and Health risks and benefits
Goal:
Students will apply what they have learnt about Human’s impact on the environment in
a debate regarding the GM Food. The aim would be for the students to be able to utilize
argumentation and involve sociomoral discourse to reflect cognitively on both their
41
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
scientific knowledge and personal beliefs and to determine the most just solution
regarding how to protect the environment and our health with the sale of GM food in
Singapore. This activity will be at the end of the unit on Interactions within the
Environment. Students will have covered the factors affecting the environment and
man’s impact on the environment.
Procedure:
1. Introduce GM Food and lead a class discussion on GM Food to identify students’
beliefs on GM Food safety and their experience and knowledge on the topic.
2. Discuss SSI relevant to consideration of GM Food – Health & Environmental
Benefits and Risks
3. Divide the class of 40 into 10 groups of 4. Each group of 4 is presented an article
from one perspective. There are altogether 5 perspectives: each from Environmental
protection group, biotechnology company, consumers, retailers, farmers and Food
and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
4. Students in the group (Expert Group) are to record the findings. They may discuss
with each other to check and clarify on their understanding of the article that they
have read.
5. Expert members report to a Home Group – each Home group is made up 5
members, with each reading a different article. Home group is then assigned a
perspective to take (Environmental protection group, biotechnology company,
consumers, retailers, farmers and Food and Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations). They are to discuss and come up with a defence, based on the perspective
that they have been assigned. (Motion of the Debate: Should we continue to support
42
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
GM Food?) Students write their defence on the first 3 sections of Worksheet: In The
Heat of Argument and use the Reflection: You be Your Own Judge to check on the
level of argument they will be presenting. (See Appendix H: Worksheet - In The
Heat of Exchange and Appendix I: Reflection - You be Your Own Judge)(Note: If this
is the first lesson the students are exposed to argumentation in class, then
scaffolding on argumentation skills would be needed. Go through both worksheet
and reflection sheet with the students in order and practise going through the
exercise a few times as a class before they are comfortable enough to do a
reflection on their own.)
6. Lead a class discussion on human’s impact on the environment – could be positive,
negative, or neutral and identify conflicting evidence and consensus class opinions
on the most just solution regarding how to protect the environment and our health
with the sale of GM food in Singapore.
7. Students document their argumentation during the debate by completing the last
section of Worksheet - In the Heat of Exchange and reflect their group’s level of
argument in Reflection – You be Your OwnJudge. (See Appendix H: Worksheet - In
The Heat of Exchange and Appendix I: Reflection - You be Your Own Judge)
Appendix J shows the Proposed Pedagogical Details Using GM Foods as a
Controversial SSI, and this could be modified to suit the needs of the students.
Below are somesuggested resources for articles used in activity/class discussion:
43
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
1. “An overview of European consumer polls on attitudes to GMOs” Retrieved from
http://www.gmocompass.org/eng/news/stories/415.an_overview_european_consumer_polls_attitud
es_gmos.html
2. “Sustainable Agriculture Genetic engineering dangers and problems
Greenpeace”. Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/geneticengineering/
3. “Spotlight/2001: Genetically modified crops” Food and Agriculture Organiztion of the
United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0111sp.htm
4. “French supermarket chain Carrefour bans GM” The Daily Mail. Retrieved from
http://www.netlink.de/gen/Zeitung/1999/990206a.htm
5. “The Debate Over Genetically Modified Foods”, Sakko,K. An ActionBioscience.org
original article. Retrieved from http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/sakko.html
Below are the additional resources on GM Foods:
1. http://www.gmac.gov.sg/Index_Singapore_Guidelines_on_the_Release_of_Agricultu
re_Related_GMOs.html - to gather information on the guidelines that Singapore has
in place
2. http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/Y5160E/y5160e10.htm - to gather information on the
health and environmental impacts of transgenic crops
3. http://www.naturalnews.com/032384_Whole_Foods_GM.html - current news on GM
Food/Crops
44
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
4. http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-get-facts - article on
basic information on GM Food
Chapter 6: Discussion
Affordances of the SSI curriculum
There is an imperative need to prepare our students for the 21st Century. Our students
will be the ones managing many of the topics central to SSI. All need resolution. The
consequences of these SSI topics, such as global climate change, are not confined to
any particular country but extend to the whole globe. (Mansilla& Anthony, 2011) Hence,
the SSI curriculum allows students to engage in the thinking process and practice that
helps them to make responsible decisions as responsible global citizens.
The SSI curriculum has shown to increase students’ moral sensitivity, thus contributing
to overall moral development (Fowler, Zeidler & Sadler, 2009). SSI can also promote
reflective judgment through the use of argumentation and evidence-based reasoning.
(Zeidler, Sadler, Applebaum& Callahan, 2009) In addition, it has also been shown that
the SSI curriculum can increase students’ understanding of the nature of science
(Khishfe& Lederman, 2006) and understanding of science knowledge. (Sadler et al.,
2004)
“The ability to consider multiple viewpoints, and integrate various strands of evidence
into an informed data-driven position, is not only an important scientific skill, but also a
fundamental life-skill all students should be able to utilize.”
(Zeidler, Sadler,
Applebaum& Callahan, 2009, pp.92)
Constraints of the SSI curriculum reform
45
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
For any change in curriculum, the key person who makes a difference is the teacher
who will be implementing it in the classroom. One possible constraint, as also noted by
the interview that I have conducted with the 2 teachers, is the competency of the
teachers. To use Shulman’s (1987) language, effective teachers need pedagogical
content knowledge (knowledge about how to teach in particular disciplines) rather than
only knowledge of a particular subject matter. We assume that most teachers begin with
some expertise in the content they teach (Shulman, 1986) but what is the reality? As
highlighted by Dr. Zeidler in his interview, teachers must be comfortable in conducting
argumentation and this will take practice. Hence, teachers need to be prepared and
experienced in conducting class discussion and debate in order to be effective in
employing SSI in the science classroom. They need to understand the “how” and “why”
and not just the “what”.
“Those who can, do. Those who understand, teach.” (Shulman, 1986, p.14)
Limited time, too, was highlighted as a constraint by both teachers whom I have
interviewed. Although time is used differently, both have referred to the time that the
teachers would have. The time required is for professional development and the time to
be able to engage students in discourse. To tackle the first, schools could set aside time
for such education during professional development week or subsume under the Staff
Contact Time, or set aside time within the curriculum time, where Professional Learning
Communities can sit down and go through on-job learning or follow-up on the instruction
received by reflecting on the lessons. If teachers are willing to invest a little time in
scaffolding students’ argumentation skills, which include critical thinking skills, then the
payoffs will be that the students will be more engaged and motivated to learn as SSI are
46
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
issues that are of high interest to them. In doing so, the students will be motivated to
participate in science, have greater ownership in their learning, and hence, will learn
more. This will result in students having engaged with more content than intended by
the syllabus. Besides this, SSI increases students’ scientific literacy, which ultimately is
the principle goal of science education.
Lastly, a possible constraint could be the teachers’ own values. What the teachers
choose to teach, and what they emphasize in their practices, represent a choice made
by them influenced by their own values and the benefits to their own interests. (Lemke,
1990) If they choose to teach to the test, then the instruction will revolve around that
decision, but if they choose to teach to help students become an educated person, then
their instruction will change accordingly.
What are the professional developments needed in order to carry out such an
educational initiative?
There are 3 areas of professional developments to better prepare teachers to
implement SSI in classroom – Content, Pedagogy and Assessment.
Content

Understand SSI and moral reasoning models

Content knowledge that is reflected in primary science curriculum

Connect present curriculum to moral reasoning via SSI
Pedagogy

Curriculum
47
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
o To develop strong pedagogical content knowledge of the subject argumentation skills and NOS explicitly.
o To understand the nature of science
o To confirm the validity of the contents from various sources

Instruction
o Management of argumentation discourse; awareness of the role of authority
of a teacher in the classroom such that he/she does not have the final say in
the argumentation process. To allow and engage the students to participate
and self-evaluate in the argumentation process.

Assessment
o To assess the relevant content and argument process.
48
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following organizations/people who have helped me in the
completion of this project:
1. Ministry of Education, Singapore for granting me the opportunity for the Fulbright
Program;
2. FHI 360 for granting me the opportunity to experience such an enriching and fulfilling
learning journey;
3. Dr. J. Randy McGinnis, my Faculty Mentor, for his guidance throughout this project;
4. Dr. Dana Zeidler for granting me an interview and sharing his insights on SSI;
5. Dr. James Greenberg, Director of International Initiatives, for his purposeful coordination of the Fulbright Distinguished Teacher Award Program;
6. Dr. Letitia Williams, Assistant Director of International Initiatives, for her purposeful
co-ordination of the Fulbright Distinguished Teacher Award Program;
7. Dr. James de George, for his coordination of School Visits;
8. Ms. AnnSchweighofer for her arrangement of School Visits and Attachment;
9. Mr. Daniel Hutton, Teacher, Montgomery Elementary School for granting me an
interview;
10. Mr. Michael Long, Lead Teacher/Science, Singapore for granting me an interview;
11. Dr. Jay Teston, Principal, Paint Branch Elementary School for his warm reception to
his school;
12. Ms. Viola Harris, Assistant Principal, Paint Branch Elementary School for her
guidance in her school; and,
49
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
13. Ms Virna Flores, Teacher, Paint Branch Elementary School for her mentorship in
school.
50
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
References:
Abd-El-Khalick, F. (2003) Socioscientific Issues in Pre-College Science Classrooms. In
Zeidler, D.L. (Ed), The Role of Moral Reasoning on Scientific Issues and Discourse
in Science Education(p. 41-61). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Bell, R.L. (2003) Exploring the Role of Nature of Science Understandings in DecisionMaking: Pipe Dream or Possibility?. In Zeidler, D.L. (Ed), The Role of Moral
Reasoning on Scientific Issues and Discourse in Science Education(p. 63-79).
Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Berkowitz, M. & Simmons, P. (2003) Integrating Science Education and Character
Education: The Role of Peer Discussion. In Zeidler, D.L. (Ed), The Role of Moral
Reasoning on Scientific Issues and Discourse in Science Education(p. 117-138).
Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Dolan, T. J., Nichols, B. H., & Zeidler, D. L. (2009). Using Socioscientific Issues in
Primary Classrooms. Journal Of Elementary Science Education, 21(3), 1-12.
Fowler, S. R., Zeidler, D. L., & Sadler, T. D. (2009).Moral Sensitivity in the Context of
Socioscientific Issues in High School Science Students.International Journal Of
Science Education, 31(2), 279-296.doi:10.1080/09500690701787909
Lemke, J. (1991). Talking Science: Language, Learning and Values. NJ: Ablex. Chapter
2: A Lot of Heat and Not Much Light (p.28-43).
National Research Council. (2007). Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching
Science in Grades K-8.Committee on Science Learning Kindergarten Through
Eighth Grade. Richard A. Duschl, Heidi A. Schweingruber, and Andrew W. Shouse,
Editors. Board on Science Education, Center for Education.Division of Behavioral
and Social Sciences and Education.Washington, DC; The National Academies
Press.
Sadler, T. D., & Zeidler, D. L. (2005). Patterns of informal reasoning in the context of
socioscientific decision-making. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42, 112138. (Awarded JRST Outstanding Article for 2005.)
Sadler, T. D., & Zeidler, D. L. (2009). Scientific Literacy, PISA, and Socioscientific
Discourse: Assessment for Progressive Aims of Science Education. Journal Of
Research In Science Teaching, 46(8), 909-921. doi:10.1002/tea.20327
Shulman, L.S., Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching. Educational
Researcher, Vol. 15, No.2. (Feb., 1986), 4-14
51
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Simmons, M.L. & Zeidler, D.L. (2003) Beliefs in the Nature of Science and Responses
to Socioscientific Issues. In Zeidler, D.L. (Ed), The Role of Moral Reasoning on
Scientific Issues and Discourse in Science Education(p. 81-94). Netherlands: Kluwer
Academic Publishers.
Walker, K. A., & Zeidler, D. L. (2007). Promoting Discourse about Socioscientific Issues
through Scaffolded Inquiry.International Journal Of Science Education, 29(11), 13871410.doi:10.1080/09500690601068095
Zeidler, D. L., & Nichols, B. H. (2009). Socioscientific Issues: Theory and
Practice. Journal Of Elementary Science Education, 21(2), 49-58.
Zeidler, D. L., Sadler, T. D., Applebaum, S., Callahan, B. E. (2009). Advancing
Reflective Judgment through Socioscientific Issues. Journal of Research in Science
Teaching, 46(1), 74-101.
Zeidler, D.L. & Keefer, M (2003) The Role of Moral Reasoning and the Status of
Socioscientific Issues in Science Education. In Zeidler, D.L. (Ed), The Role of Moral
Reasoning on Scientific Issues and Discourse in Science Education(p. 7-38).
Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Zeidler, D.L. & Lewis, J. (2003) Unifying Themes in Moral Reasoning on Socioscientific
Issues and Discourse. In Zeidler, D.L. (Ed), The Role of Moral Reasoning on
Scientific Issues and Discourse in Science Education(p. 289-306). Netherlands:
Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Zeidler, D.L.; Osbourne, J.; Erduran, S.; Simon, S. & Monk, M. (2003) The Role of
Argument During Discourse about Socioscientific Issues. In Zeidler, D.L. (Ed), The
Role of Moral Reasoning on Scientific Issues and Discourse in Science Education(p.
97-116). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Internet References:
Ministry of Education, Singapore. (2010) Press Release: MOE to Enhance Learning of
21st Century Competencies and Strengthen Art, Music and Physical Education.
Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/2010/03/moe-to-enhancelearning-of-21s.php.
Ministry of Education, Singapore. (2008) Science Primary Syllabus 2008. Retrieved
from http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/syllabuses/sciences/files/science-primary2008.pdf
Ministry of Education, Singpoare (2011)Speeches: Opening Address by Mr Heng Swee
Keat, Minister for Education, at the Ministry of Education (MOE) Work Plan Seminar,
52
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
on Thursday, 22 September 2011 at 10.00 am at Ngee Ann Polytechnic Convention
Centre. Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2011/09/22/workplan-seminar-2011.php
53
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix A: Pedagogical Relationships Between Teacher and Students’ SSI
Discourse
(Source: Zeidler, Sadler, Applebaum & Callahan, 2009, p. 95)
54
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix B: Summary of Reflective Judgment Stages
(Source: Zeidler, Sadler, Applebaum & Callahan, 2009, p. 93 which was adapted from
King & Kitchener, 1994; 2002)
55
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix C: List of prepared questions for Dr. Dana Zeidler
1.
What were some of the major investigations and findings of your more recent
studies in this area since the publication of yourbook “The Role of Moral
Reasoning on Socioscientific Issues and Discourse in Science Education”?
2.
How do you believe your research has influenced the classroom practices in
terms of promoting moral reasoning and examining ethical issues in the context
of science, particularly in the elementary schools?
3.
What is the relationship betweenSocioscientific Issues (SSI)and the Nature of
Science (NOS)?
4.
There are some implications in science teacher preparation and professional
development in order for effective teaching of scientific practices and SSI that
were listed in chapter 4 of your book. These included: teachers should be
knowledgeable regarding the issue, skillful in guiding the class discussions,
familiar with logic necessary for critical thinking, and also have a strong working
knowledge of NOS. Which of these, or any other not mentioned, do you think is
the most fundamental one? Why?
5.
What are some main considerations for the teachers in developing a discourse in
SSI?
56
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
6.
Anne Wong
How does the role of formative assessment play in the evaluation of the quality of
an argument regarding SSI?
7.
What do you see as the main areas of differences (of analysis, priority, or value)
among those who work in the SSI initiative?
8.
What advice would you have for elementary science teachers in Singapore who
wish to incorporate SSI in their practices?
57
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix D: List of questions for Teachers
1. How do you feel about the elements of scientific practices and discourse in
elementary classroom? (Elements of scientific practices:
1. Science as a process of logical reasoning about evidence - learning to think
scientifically is a matter of acquiring problem-solving strategies for co-ordinating
theory and evidence, distinguishing patterns of evidence that do and do not
support a definitive conclusion, and understanding the logic of experimental
design;
2. Science as a process of Theory Change - knowledge of science evolves
through gradual elaboration of existing theories through new facts and
knowledge, the process of theory or conceptual change;
3. Science as a participation of participation in the culture of scientific practices individual scientists or groups are always a part of wider social environment.
Discourse - getting the students to communicate their thought by word - talking;
conversation)
2. How do you feel about infusing socioscientific issues in the elementary science
curriculum? (Socioscientific Issues are scientific issues that are of interest to the
society. E.g., Gene therapy, alcohol, stem cell research, diet and obesity, cosmetic
surgery etc.)
3. What are some constraints and concerns over teaching of science in the elementary
school?
58
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
59
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix E: Interview Transcript of Dr. Dana Zeidler
Interviewer: Anne Wong (AW)
Interviewee: Dr. Dana Zeidler, Professor (DZ) – Program Coordinator for Science
Education, College of Education, University of South Florida. Editor of
Interview Setting: The telephone interview was conducted on Nov 15 2011, at
2:30p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
Affiliation with interviewee: I have read one of his books that he edited with Springer.
“The Role of Moral Reasoning on Socioscientific Issues and Discourse in Science
Education”.
(Start of Interview)
AW:
What were some of the major investigations and findings of your more
recent studies in this area since the publication of your book “The Role of
Moral Reasoning on Socioscientific Issues and Discourse in Science
Education”?
DZ:
Well, we are doing quite a bit since the publication of the book and we
probably have published 15 more articles since then. But if you are looking
at what I think some of the most significant ones? I would say it is an article
that we did and it is by Zeidler, Sadler, Applebaum and Callahan (2009) in
the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and it is called “Advancing
Reflective Judgment through Socioscientific Issues” and I am really proud of
this article. We did an almost a whole year-long academic study on how
well SSI in the integrated and become this curriculum or a content-driven
Science course, in an Anatomy - Biology Course and I think you can look at
particular article for yourself to see more of the details. Well, but I think we
did a really good job investigating this whole year’s work where SSI became
not an add-on to the course but became the course itself. So there are like
10 or 12 different units throughout the whole academic year of SSI. And the
SSI units contain elements of moral ethical problems and dilemmas which
might be 3 or 5-day long and you can come back to visit it multiple times
and within that month-period and the epistemological content was extracted
from the SSI unit, so empirical engagement - how much discussion,
argumentation that discourse continues, dilemma, reasoning to come from,
trying to make decisions on the different topics and in the process they
would need to learn the content to better prepare a position they have in
the discussion. And we were assessing reflective judgment which is a
model in Kitchener and Patricia King’s work and I like the model that we
were doing because it is developmental model connected to structural
changes in cognitive structure in cognition and the way that you go about
assessing reflective judgment parallel to models that how people string
60
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
knowledge and what counts as knowledge and how instruction that
knowledge, what counts as evidence for that knowledge-based so it is
parallel in many ways we would consider the nature of science (NOS) too.
So I think by looking at epistemological growth in this way, reflective
judgment. We were also able to realize that there were effective changes in
the nature of science understanding and what we show in the whole
academic school year is that people’s reflective judgment in the treatment
group of SSI versus the traditional-teaching group that the people’s
developmental level of reflective judgment could be increased and hence,
can become more sophisticated in terms of their epistemological reasoning.
And I was very proud of our design and methodological feature of the study.
When you read it, I think you will be able to find the feature described and
the details the approach that we took pains we took in terms of qualitative
data and quantitative data, the assumptions and credibility. We have done
really well and… I think that one work alone is cited by many more recent
articles, a lot of times since then. I think that has a lot to exam SSI in terms
of showing the leadership that SSI can impact the classroom in terms of
moving more refresh epistemological leanings SSI has on science and the
knowledge about science through ethical and moral discussion. I’m proud of
that work and I think that is what I can point to since the book, that has
come out and shown some really positive strong results.
We have some other articles, other research. I will briefly mention them.
One is by Fowler, Zeidler and Sadler and the name of the article is “Moral
Sensitivity in the Context of Sociocientific Issues in High School Science
Students”. We are actually in the same team in the study. It is in the
International Journal of Science Education and I think we were able to show
how that … also enhance students’ capacity to empathise and become
more sensitive and indirectly we are able to show the character
development of the students in the process of using SSI. So, that one I think
is pretty well … the thing we have been working… collecting data in
different ways within. And I think that in terms of other studies we have
written a lot conceptual pieces, theoretical pieces and reflective pieces. Let
me think about 2 other ones. There is one by Walker and Zeidler, a study in
2007. It is also in the International Journal of Science Education and that
was plotting discourse about SSI through scaffolded inquiry and we are
looking at students’ … and increase their argumentation skills through SSI
through different …in different classes. And I think that was a pretty quick
study.
And there was one by Zeidler and its name is JRST and that it actually won
an award for Journal Research in Science Teaching which is a kind of a
prestigious award given to one that has made the most impact in the field
for that year. And we have that Sadler and Zeidler with Patterns for Informal
Reasoning in the Context of Socioscientific Decision-making in the Journal
Research in Science Teaching. And I think you know, that we probably feel
toward about the most sophisticated for that year and that we identify the
top reasoning patterns exhibited through engaging in the context of learning
61
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
about SSI. I think one of the most sophisticated part of that paper is that we
are able to show that even though people might use different levels of
rationalistic thinking, intuitive thinking and emotive thinking. We are able to
show that the emotive thinking would be as big as rational and highly
developed as any other kinds of reasoning, and so we can make the role for
the emotions for moral reasoning in the classroom and I think a lot of
science teachers might say you know that we should not let our emotions
affect our decisions but this is something that shows that there is a sense of
for example in empathy or caring, emotions and things that are connected
with things that are not rational but we are able to demonstrate that there is
really a very high degree of sophisticated reasoning that is embedded in
empathy and care and so it is able to resolve different moral dilemmas and
then you design the content that revolves around the issues. Then there are
some others. Some of the most recent studies that we have done that have
certainly had impacted on other research and classroom pedagogy too.
AW:
How do you believe your research has influenced the classroom practices
in terms of promoting moral reasoning and examining ethical issues in the
context of science, particularly in the elementary schools?
DZ:
I’m glad you asked that. We have done a lot of work in the secondary level
but we have also worked with college students, high schools, middle
schools, and now elementary schools. And we have done some very good
work at the elementary level and in this case, with the 5 th graders. We have
done some work with younger students as well. It’s not published but I have
teachers who are doing really good work with even younger students at the
elementary level, in their own classrooms. But I think I can point to you one
article, for example, that I think captures some work we are doing. There
are a few articles that we put into the Journal of Elementary Science
Education. There is an article we have there by Dolan, Nichols & Zeidler
(2009). It is called “Using Socisoscientific Issues in Primary Classrooms”.
We discuss using them (SSI) and how we can use them in our classrooms.
There is a really good one for teachers and if you were going back to
Singapore, you can tell them about this. There is another one that we have
in the same journal, same year. The Journal of Elementary Science
Education (2009) and it is by Zeidler & Nichols and that is called
“Socioscientific Issues: Theory and Practice” and what we did for that one is
we try to write a short and succinct article. It is only about 7 pages long and
it sort of captures the essence of what SSI is, the theory of it and in a way
readable for teachers. I know a lot of them are put off by the works of
scholars or philosophers. So when I wrote that, even Troy Sadler, you
probably know who he is. He is one of my formal doctoral who works a lot in
this area too. Troy had called me up and said that was really a good one
article, very clear and in separate order too. So that was one you can go
back and have teachers read it. It is only 7 pages. That will give them a
pretty clear understanding the theoretical point of view what SSI is. And
62
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
then, there are some practical pieces like the one that I just mentioned to
you. I’m sure it can help, like how it might look like in the classroom. I can
share with you one more short one. This is by Dolan & Zeidler (2009). It is
in the journal Science and Children. This journal has very short articles. It is
only a 4-page article. This article is called “Integrating Argumentation into
Elementary Classroom”. These 3 articles that I just mentioned to you – by
Dolan, Nichols & Zeidler; Zeidler & Nichols; and Dolan & Zeidler. Those are
geared what SSI looks like in an elementary classroom and the theory
behind there. We have done some work at the elementary level and I think
it has a really good place and I have seen some teachers doing a great job
with their kids, very interesting discussions that are age-appropriate and
really turn the kids on. And they have a great time. I can’t tell you the
enthusiasm and the level of interest. The kids will be arguing and neither
one of them wants to leave the classroom to go to the next teacher’s class.
They were at the locker and at lunch but they were still arguing. At the end
of the day, they were still arguing. It is contagious and we had a lot of fun.
You know we have worked with some younger kids and I would like to do
that.
AW:
What is the relationship between Socioscientific Issues (SSI) and the
Nature of Science (NOS)?
DZ:
That was what we were looking at in the Reflective Judgment study and for
your own background, although connections as well to it, both are in my
book and I should find another article here. There is an article that has been
cited over 200 times. It is by Zeidler, Sadler, Simmons &Howes (2005). That
is in Science Education and called “Beyond STS: A research- based
framework for socioscientific issues education". And that one, when I wrote
it, I knew I was going to put some cracks in the pillars, chips on the armour.
And it really change how we think about it and I do address SSI and the
rationale as well. What I did in my book. Well, very briefly, I think that part of
what we are doing, in SSI subsumes in the nature of science. Another
….my friend Lederman, might say, “Well, nature of science subsumes
everything else.” But I really think that when you are doing socioscientific
issues, one of the things we are trying to do is that you really have to
discern the real information from false information, from reliable sources
from unreliable sources. We try to make judgments based on evidence, in
evidence-based reasoning. We encourage them to argue with their passion
and with their emotions as well, but try to make decisions, also based on
data-driven information. And so how you seek that data, how you think
about data, what you count as data, how you evaluate data, how you
choose it, and how you frame discussion reflect pretty closely the
developmental nature of science and reflect also, the tentative nature of
science. It reflects how science is empirically-driven and you and I know
these are the major tenets of NOS. So you can begin to see that actually
enter into a full-fledged SSI classroom that run well by a teacher, you are
63
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
naturally engaged in the nature of science reasoning and I think that you
can begin to have a sophisticated understanding of the nature of science by
doing SSI, particularly if the teacher makes clear what some of those
connections are. And you should have covered all the mechanics of the
tenets of nature of science, you can cover that in the context of doing SSI
pedagogically-driven classroom. And so, I think if you do SSI well, you are
de facto doing the nature of science and not only that, you are
developmentally increasing the robust understanding of the nature of
science. Right now, Troy Sadler, myself and one other person have one
article under review in the International Journal of Science Education, that
looking at how nature of science is affected by SSI-instruction and that is an
empirical piece. Those are the connections that I see. I can go on with more
details but I think we probably end with the general understanding of the
connections now.
AW:
There are some implications in science teacher preparation and
professional development in order for effective teaching of scientific
practices and SSI that were listed in chapter 4 of your book. These
included: teachers should be knowledgeable regarding the issue, skillful in
guiding the class discussions, familiar with logic necessary for critical
thinking, and also have a strong working knowledge of NOS. Which of
these, or any other not mentioned, do you think is the most fundamental
one? Why?
DZ:
That was a big question. I don’t know if I can answer in just one short
setting. I think teachers, if they are going to do SSI, they need to first ask
themselves, “What is it that you are trying to teach?” If you were science
teacher, even if you elementary teacher. And if you are using it to teach
science and for what I understand, you can use it in the instruction of
science, math and cross-curriculum, I think you need to think about what
are your objectives, what is the content you want the kids to learn. Before
you just sort of make up an interesting scenario or interesting dilemma, you
need to first ask yourself, “What is it that I really want them to learn?”, “What
is the content?” and “What our job is?”. The process in engagement,
development in moral reasoning and all those things are great but it is all in
the course for teaching content but I think teacher first need to ask
themselves first, you know, “What is that the content of understanding?
What level of conceptual understanding that they want to get out of it? That
should begin in the main frame and drive trying to create the different
scenario. Obviously if you are still in asking questions, that is going to be an
asset. But I think one of the key ingredients is the ability to be more hands
off and let the students begin to have more discussions and do more on
their own, than you being the person that directs everything. Have them
directions. Have them push the people in the right track but what is hard for
the teachers you are working with is for them sort of give up the control that
sort of one man answering every single question. You probably have seen
64
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
that they are hesitant to give up that control in the classroom. Teachers are
not always comfortable at first, taking away that control. The teacher is
always asking, “What do you want us to do?”, “What do you want us to
write?” and “How do you want us to do this?” They are not used to thinking
for themselves. There is a little bit of a learning curve that has to take place,
both for the teacher as well as for the students. It is relative to, very much
like what good inquiry is like, sort of, let the students begin generate the
questions, then think about the best way to push the directions to those
questions. And the environment must be safe of course, in the classroom.
So I think good teachers that can be a good guide, a good mentor, a good
mediator and a good facilitator. Whatever characteristics that work well for
you to be a good mentor, a good facilitator or a guide. That is going to do
well for you in an SSI classroom. Then we step in to walk for them
knowledge, point them to the direction at which they could obtain a good
knowledge when need to. I think a lot have to do with “releasing the reins”.
You know, while you are riding on the horse, if you pull up the reins, the
horse is going to slow down. If you release the reins on the horse, the horse
is going to pick up speed and go faster and go where they think is going to
be important. So that is the metaphor that you’ve got to release the reins, let
the horse do what it is going to do. Now, let the students do what they are
going to do. We have written a lot more on this as well. You can imagine.
There is a book that just came out, by Troy Sadler, the editor of it and I’ve
got a chapter in his book and Troy’s book is called “Socioscientific Issues in
the Classroom” and it is by Springer. In that book, we have a chapter that
describes the epistemology study that I talked about, describes the
teachers’ perspectives and what teachers were going through. It is Chapter
16 in this book. It is called “Enacting a Socioscientific Issues Classroom:
Transformative Transformations”. In there, I describe it in more detail, what
teachers have to go through and also within that book, there are some
metalogues, these are discussions among authors of different chapters and
there are a couple more chapters that I have gotten different discussions
about the chapters that they have written and in there, I talk more
specifically about what you need to do for teachers in order to get them to
begin doing it. That leaves it to another discussion on another day.
AW:
What are some main considerations for the teachers in developing a
discourse in SSI?
DZ:
What I think we have been discussing a lot now. I think you still will have to
have a plan, when you go in there as a teacher. I always have certain key
questions that I want to probe my students with and all questions but then,
you can always predict where the conversations are going. You have to be
flexible and adaptable to let the conversations go in different directions that
you may not intend for it to go. I always have something that I want to
consider, the key questions but for the students to raise the questions
themselves or I will raise those questions. Sometimes, students will raise
65
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
those questions, the ones that I wrote and the students are doing it for me.
So I think and again, be flexible and malleable as a teacher with respect to
letting the conversations unfold in unpredictable directions and knowing
when you have to step back in when the students to get the students back
on track. There is still a need to have a focus so it is not anything goes to a
certain (extent). There is still a focus, a certain objective that they are trying
to cover. That it may not be apparent to the outsiders but to a good teacher,
they know in their head, what they wanted the students to learn.
AW:
How does the role of formative assessment play in the evaluation of the
quality of an argument regarding SSI?
DZ:
This is a big question. We have not written a lot about assessment. This is
probably something that needs to be written more about. But what we have
covered it. We have created a lot of units, my students and myself over the
years. We have created a lot of SSI units. I get to teach a course on
Science Education, Socioscieintific Issues and in that course, students have
to put together a unit plan for SSI and I wish I have time if I ever come to
Singapore, I can give you support, I can share with you some of these units
but there are many ways we can evaluate students’ product. You still have
the traditional content-driven test for the content if you have a good content.
There is always one we look at performance on whatever we have been
using in the past but of course I prefer to have measures that are looking at
more conceptual understanding than just rote recall. You will find that
students can train themselves and write out answers that are either more
sophisticated explanation of content understanding but in addition, students
have created posters for example, that you can create a … in the sense,
that they have created video products, they have created online postings,
video blogs for one another where there is information and content. They
have created like a letter written to a congress person or to a senator or to a
newspaper. You have to think that you can evaluate too. There are all kinds
of different ways you can assess students’ understanding and conceptual
understanding and conceptual argumentation skills, conceptual skills and
almost about anything. I give you about 8 to 9 different kinds of them, but
there are more.
AW:
One of the things, from what I know is that the teachers are very concerned
over the state examination. That is something that I have been hearing from
them and also in your book, you have also mentioned about the constraints
of time that the teacher would find in trying to initiate SSI or even to
incorporate SSI in the regular lesson, so I’m going to jump in with one
question here because as a person in practice. How have you seen, in
terms of teachers, in comparison to before the book was published, have
you seen any influence in the classroom teaching? How open are the
teachers in terms of SSI? Are they more conscious?
66
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
DZ:
It depends on how you approach the teachers with this too. I have a captive
audience which students would come to my course and they are seeking a
Master degree and certification. And like anything else versus the old
things, it always sounds like I can never do this, it is too much work and it
takes up too much time. But in order for my course, in order to have a better
understanding what it is all about, the experience and implications of it.
Most of them would leave, doing SSI at one point or another. They may not
do the whole curriculum SSI but they are going to try a few of these in the
classroom. With respect to concern of national tests and standards, first you
have different national standards. We have state standards here and we
have national ones as well. You can always find ways to align what you do
with these national standards. But what we also have is the National
Assessment. We called FCAT Test in Florida. It is an assessment test that
all students in Florida would take and we have been able to show that our
students going through this SSI are doing better, not as good as, but better
than students who are not going through SSI and teachers that have been
doing this with the kids, they see the increase how they have performed on
the tests, because the students have the conceptual background of science
and they can perform better on these tests. So it takes a lot of time up front
to create a good unit but even if you just do one unit, and then maybe the
second year, you do a second unit. After 2 or 3 years, you might have 2 or 3
or 4 units. You can begin to share with people. Now, 2 people can show up
with 3 units over 3 years, now you can have 6 units. It can be enhanced
over time and by the time you put up front which is a lot of time you develop
a good unit, it is a payoff, tremendous, in terms of the kids like science, in
terms of engaging in it. That is the bottom line - is to get kids to be
interested in science. Otherwise for the overarching concepts for the
outcomes in science education, you will have more educated in science
literacy and I have written some more articles on science literacy, and of
course I frame it in terms of being able to make decisions, in which you
consider the environmental, social, economical impact on your decision, to
be at the point of science literacy and if you don’t that component, you will
only have a little piece of what it means to be scientific literate. So I think I
can convince the teachers in the classroom that things that we are doing
are necessary components of what it means to be scientific literate. Most
teachers begin to understand that argument over time. And in fact they think
that you are not taking away time from other things, you are covering more
things doing an SSI unit. We spoke about the administrative constraints,
which don’t understand what is going on, but in terms of taking away time to
cover some content, my argument is that you are going to cover more
content than you have meant than traditional approach in teaching, but
there is the fun part.
AW:
What advice would you have for elementary science teachers in Singapore
who wish to incorporate SSI in their practices?
67
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
DZ:
I have to come to Singapore and tell them myself. I have said it. I think you
owe it to your students, owe it to yourself to try new things not because they
are new but because there is enough of solid research-based and
theoretical-based to show these things that are effective and there is a
whole line of research out there that show the interests gauged in care in
highly developed character and highly developed in understanding of
science, highly developed in reflective judgment can enhance
argumentation or discourse skills. I can’t imagine ignoring the whole body of
literature. I’m not going to do that or I think I would say try to have an open
mind, don’t do this because it is new, but because there is a researchbased that shows that these things are pretty effective and that you’re
engaging the students trying to do this and that you are feeling what is
being scientific literate and you are going to evaluate through research
including myself. You can judge the decision that this isn’t a good research.
You know you look at a theory-based research develop, well, this doesn’t
make sense or something to it. You need to open your mind to see how you
see what people are writing about and if things make sense to them, then
you are ought to be compelled to, thinking to, that totally change but
enhance the pedagogy and like that kind of evidence. I guess teachers will
have a lot of fun, the students as well. We give them a fresh perspective on
teaching and the pedagogical payoffs are many, both in terms of students’
engagement and learning of science.
And one short story, when many years ago, when co-operative learning was
on the verge of going back to the 80s and I had one professor whom I had
… in my profession and he told me, “Oh, I tried that co-operative learning
one time but it didn’t work” and I have not done anything for one time and
get effective. We have to practise to get more proficient at it over time. So I
think in the same manner, by analogy, this is something that may not go
well the first time, or they may go real well, or maybe something in between,
but with any good practitioner, you reflect your practice over time and by
simply doing and learning from it and take them apart, take what work well,
keep at that and throwing away with what don’t work well. I think you can
improve over time.
AW:
Thank you. Thank you. I have learnt so much just talking to you, having this
interview, hearing from you personally on your views on SSI.
DZ:
Thank you for your interest and tell Professor McGinnis that I said hi.
AW:
Okay.
DZ:
And if I can help you further, please give me a call.
AW:
Thank you so much, Dr. Zeidler.
DZ:
All right, you take care.
68
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
AW:
You too. Bye bye.
DZ:
Bye bye.
Anne Wong
(End of Interview)
69
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix F: Interview Transcript with Mr. Michael Long
Interviewer: Anne Wong (AW)
Interviewee: Mr. Michael Long (ML), a Lead Teacher from Singapore
Interview Setting: Email
Affiliation with interviewee: Both of us are Lead Teachers who are teacher leaders
who oversee the professional development of our teachers in our school and with
schools within our school cluster.
AW:
How do you feel about the elements of scientific practices and discourse in
elementary classroom?
(Elements of scientific practices:
1. Science as a process of logical reasoning about evidence - learning to
think scientifically is a matter of acquiring problem-solving strategies for coordinating theory and evidence, distinguishing patterns of evidence that do
and do not support a definitive conclusion, and understanding the logic of
experimental design;
2. Science as a process of Theory Change - knowledge of science evolves
through gradual elaboration of existing theories through new facts and
knowledge, the process of theory or conceptual change;
3. Science as a participation in the culture of scientific practices - individual
scientists or groups are always a part of wider social environment.
Discourse - getting the students to communicate their thought by word talking; conversation)
ML:
It is about time for teachers to realise and acknowledge 4 things:
1. that our students come in with varying degree of preconceptions about
the world.
2. the amount of knowledge that the teacher has is finite.
3. Children learn differently
4. Science, like many other subjects, can effectively be taught when the
learner learnt at the conceptual level.
Children are not empty vessels and therefore the transmission model is
outmoded. A more interactive, participatory and inquiry inspired model
need to be exercised.
Interactive bec learners have to learn to work collaboratively. Effective
communication/discourse is necessary to convey ideas and opinions. Also,
collective views and decisions are more powerful than individual
perspectives.
Participatory bec it is through active learning that meaning can be
constructed meaningfully and socially. This also allows for more ownership
70
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
of learning.
Inquiry bec it is through discovery that mis/preconceptions can be
corrected/refined. Inquiry also because science is empirical in nature and
demands systematic investigations, and logical reasoning and
argumentation to expound the ‘truth’ in the discovery/theory/concept.
Most importantly, whatever learnt (skills, content and attitudes) must be
relevant and applicable to society and their daily lives.
AW:
How do you feel about infusing socioscientific issues in the elementary
science curriculum?
(Socioscientific Issues are scientific issues that are of interest to the society.
E.g., Gene therapy, alcohol, stem cell research, diet and obesity, cosmetic
surgery etc.)
ML:
At the elementary level, values can be infused into the curriculum especially
when issues pertaining to ethics are involved, eg euthanasia, animaltesting, etc. However, the degree of expectation has to vary according to
the maturity/cognitive level of the pupils. Renzhichu, xinben san. All
humans regardless of age are compassionate and therefore, even children
have their set of value systems. The question is whether they are aligned
with that of society. Hence, gaining a good grounding at a young age is
important so that they can turn out right (being an asset than a liability) to
contribute to society in the future.
AW:
What are some constraints and concerns over teaching of science in the
elementary school?
ML:
1. Depth and breadth of science knowledge that the teacher has is
questionable
2. Confidence/comfort level in teaching science
3. Insufficient time to complete syllabus. Too few periods. = if same
weighting as EL and MA, then why the disparity?
4. Lack skills in teaching science. = not teaching skills but focussing on
content more.
5. Curriculum focuses on breadth and not depth = mile wide, inch deep. =
too ambitious to cover too many topics = cannot engage in deep learning,
need to move on
6. Lack integration with other subjects, eg. literacy, art, social studies.
Suggestion :
On topic of energy (Science)
•
Read stories (fiction/non-fiction) related to energy (discovery of new
sources, forms, etc) = literacy
•
Create a fictional story about the above = literacy
•
Draw a scene of the story written (eg. setting of the story, etc) = art
•
Think about a time in Singapore history when energy supply was an
71
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
issue. Discuss / Write about it = Social Studies = social & ethical issues
(Get to interact, debate, argue, reason, explain, elaborate, evaluate, etc)
But to do this, time and integration with EL, Art and SS is necessary.
72
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix G: Interview Transcript with Mr. Daniel Hutton
Interviewer: Anne Wong (AW)
Interviewee: Mr.Daniel Hutton (DH), a Grade 1Science Teacher from Maryland
Interview Setting: Email
Affiliation with interviewee: Daniel is a Doctoral student who is taking the same
course as one of mine.
AW:
How do you feel about the elements of scientific practices and discourse in
elementary classroom?
(Elements of scientific practices:
1. Science as a process of logical reasoning about evidence - learning to
think scientifically is a matter of acquiring problem-solving strategies for coordinating theory and evidence, distinguishing patterns of evidence that do
and do not support a definitive conclusion, and understanding the logic of
experimental design;
2. Science as a process of Theory Change - knowledge of science evolves
through gradual elaboration of existing theories through new facts and
knowledge, the process of theory or conceptual change;
3. Science as a participation in the culture of scientific practices - individual
scientists or groups are always a part of wider social environment.
Discourse - getting the students to communicate their thought by word talking; conversation)
DH:
1. Science as a process of logical reasoning about evidence - The potential
is there for good activities but Teachers need more support and training
2. Science as a process of Theory Change - This concept is not explicit in
our curriculum today
3. Science as a participation in the culture of scientific practices - This
concept is not explicit in our curriculum today
Discourse - Student are encouraged to talk with each other, however there
is no real guidance on how to make this talk productive
AW:
How do you feel about infusing socioscientific issues in the elementary
science curriculum?
(Socioscientific Issues are scientific issues that are of interest to the society.
E.g., Gene therapy, alcohol, stem cell research, diet and obesity, cosmetic
surgery etc.)
DH:
There is a lot of emphasison the environment and (in) our new curriculum.
73
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
AW:
What are some constraints and concerns over teaching of science in the
elementary school?
DH:



Limited content knowledge
Limited knowledge of constructivist practices
Time and money for training
74
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix H: Worksheet - In The Heat of Exchange
Name: ________________________
Date: _____________
Class: _______
In The Heat of Argument
From whose perspective is your group representing: ________________
One of your main arguments is:
Possible counterargument to your main argument would be:
Our possible comeback to the counterargument would be:
How could your comeback be improved? Write a more effective
comeback below:
75
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix I - You be Your Own Judge
Name: ________________________
Date: _____________
Class: _______
You be Your Own Judge
Now that the debate is over, how would you rate your group in the level of argument
during the debate? Use the table below and record down what your group has
highlighted in the appropriate level of argument during the course of debate.
Level of
Argument
1
Description
Your group argument
Arguments that were a simple
claim vs a counter claim or a
claim vs claim.
2
Arguments consisted of claims
with warrants, backings or data
that do not contain any rebuttals.
3
Arguments that consisted of a
series of claims or counter claims
with
eitherdata,
warrant
or
backings with occasional weak
rebuttal.
4
Arguments that consisted of a
claim with a clearly identifiable
rebuttal. (Such an argument may
have several claims or counter
claims as well but this is not
necessary.)
5
This was an extended argument
with more than one rebuttal.
Source: 5 Levels of Argument by Zeidler, Osnourne, Erduran, Simmons & Monk (2003), an adaptation
from Toulmin’s Argument Pattern (Toulmin, 1958)
76
Integrating Socioscientific Issues with Scientific Practices in the Elementary Classroom
Anne Wong
Appendix J: Proposed Pedagogical Details Using GM Foods as a Controversial
Introduction
SSI
GM Food as a
Level of
participati
controversial topic of
science
Identify
Class
Discussio
Student core
beliefs on GM
Food safety
Identify
Student
experience and
knowledge
Describe/
Discuss
Health benefits
and risks
Investigation of
relevant SSI
characteristics of topic
Impacts on the
environment
Introduce
Expert
Group
Activity
Food for all;
Vaccines;
potential
allergy
Environmental
risks and
benefits
Phase I Activity
4 students/group
5 groups
Each group is given one article to read
Each article represents from a perspective
Introduce
Home
Group
Phase II Activity
Presentation of findings by
each expert to Home Group
Introduce
Home
Group
Phase III Activity
Each Home Group is assigned on one of the
perspectives to take: Environmental protection
Group, biotechnology company, consumers,
retailers, farmers and Food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations
Introduce
Open debate
followed by
Class
Phase IV Activity
Open Debate each group defending their
specific viewpoint
Leads to
Class discussion: Man’s impact on the
environment – could be positive and
negative
Leads to
Class discussion: Identifying
conflicting evidence and
consensus opinions
77