• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.303-315
• /
• 2016

Socioscientific issues (SSI), by their nature, are conceptually embedded in technology. Previous research reported that nature of technology (NOT), unlike nature of science, was quite explicitly manifested in SSI decision-making, and NOT could be a promising construct for promoting SSI reasoning. In this study, authors introduced an integrated conceptual framework for NOT, which consisted of four dimensions (i.e., artifacts, knowledge, practice and system) as diverse modes of technology. We adapted the framework to investigate students' conceptualizations of NOT in the context of various SSIs. Data was collected from 45 college students enrolled in a liberal arts course on science and technology. The students participated in a team project, where they prepared and led discussions for SSI topics in class. Seven topics concerning SSIs were selected by students themselves. The preparation and class discussion of each student group were audio-recorded, and final reports were also analyzed. As a result, NOT sub-components in the dimensions of artifacts and system were explicitly represented in most contexts of SSI with various ranges of understanding. Other sub-components under the dimensions of knowledge and practice were rarely or implicitly shown in the discussion. The depth of students' understanding on NOT varied. Implications for science education were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.61-75
• /
• 2022

Recently, lifelong learning ability was newly proposed as scientific literacy, the goal of the science curriculum. To solve various science-related problems students encounter in life, lifelong learning abilities related to science beyond school science education are required, but empirical evidence shows that students can solve problems they actually face through scientific literacy. It is not easy to find in the existing science education research. In addition, there is a lack of discussion on how to cultivate lifelong learning ability suggested in the curriculum through school science education. In this study, attention was paid to SSI education as a method for students to cultivate lifelong learning ability through school science education and to develop their ability to solve science-related problems encountered in life. In this context, statements in the existing SSI education studies were reviewed to discover discourses related to lifelong learning, and their types and characteristics were distinguished. It was possible to confirm lifelong learning and its applicability with focus on science education research through this. For the study, 18 literature materials on the subject of SSI education were selected, and the discourses related to lifelong learning in the SSI education research were discovered by examining the statements revealed in the data. As a result of the study, there are four categories of discourses related to lifelong learning: 'awareness of science,' 'connection between science and everyday life', 'promotion of participatory citizenship', and 'construction of identity'. Various SSI education studies have already had lifelong learning perception in various contexts, and the four types of discourses related to lifelong learning could be linked to the four types of learning presented in the UNESCO Lifelong Learning Report. SSI education tends to view students' life experiences as part of their learning and aims to help students develop the character and capacity to make responsible decisions on social issues related to science and put them into practice. This competency can be continuously connected to the real-life of students outside of school as a lifelong learning ability. This study requires expanding the discourse related to lifelong learning in science education and operating and managing the overall educational system to foster students' lifelong learning ability.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.453-464
• /
• 2017

The purposes of the study are to investigate the experiences of major stakeholders (i.e. science teachers, program instructors, local experts, etc.) who participated in implementing Community-Based Socioscientific Issues Programs (SSI-COMM) and to provide educational implications for further implementation. SSI-COMM dealt with three issues (i.e. abandoned pets, fine dust, and recycling) that students often encountered in their local community. Each program, lasting over 16 class periods in a free semester, included in-school and out-of-school activities in order to promote their interest and participation in community. Four teachers, four program instructors, and six local experts joined the interviews to explain their experience of participating in the programs. As a result, school teachers, program instructors, and local experts positively appreciated their experiences of the program implementation and perceived educational potentials of SSI-COMM. All the stakeholders mentioned that they became more interested in local socioscientific issues and strongly perceived the need for the implementation of such programs linked to their own community. The science teachers appreciated the opportunities to identify students' potentials through SSI-COMM and believed that SSI-COMM would contribute to reducing the gap between learning and practice. The program instructors, observed that out-of-school activities contributed to enhancing students' self-confidence and fulfillment in learning. Finally, the local experts obtained a sense of belonging to their community and were very satisfied with their contribution. The SSI-COMM programs are expected to be one of the educational models that will help to encourage the participation of students and stakeholders in facilitating educational activities in relation to the community.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.323-334
• /
• 2017

Current science education aims to guide students as future responsible citizens to make informed decisions on socioscientific issues (SSI). In the authors' previous study, it was found that conceptions of nature of technology (NOT) were explicitly represented in various contexts of SSI with differentiated levels of understanding, and cases of the informed NOT understanding included the key features of well-reasoned SSI decision-making. Therefore, enhancing NOT understanding could be one of the elements to leverage students' informed SSI decision-making. In this study, we developed a rubric to assess NOT understanding in the context of SSI and applied it to evaluate the impact of SSI instruction. Participants were 58 college students who took an SSI course for 6 weeks. Before and after the SSI course, they were asked to write decision-making essays on the Golden Rice issue (a type of genetically modified food). As a result of analyzing the pre- and post decision-making essay using the rubric, it was found that NOT understanding was improved after the SSI course; in addition, the salient patterns of NOT changes were analyzed in detail in order to gauge the influence of the SSI classes. Implications for science education were discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.113-128
• /
• 2012

This study explored to what extent Korean science teachers perceived socioscientific issues (SSI) as an effective instructional tool for creativity and character (CreActer) education; which was recently announced as a main goal for the Korean National Science Curriculum 2009. The guiding research questions were as follows. (1)How do science teachers conceptualize the relationship between creativity and character in the context of science classes? (2) What do science teachers think about the possibility of CreActer education through SSI in science classrooms? Thirty science teachers participated in individual interviews (each lasted 20-90 minutes). In the results, the teachers' perceptions on CreActer education and SSI for CreActer education were categorized into four profiles. Eleven teachers in Profile A thought that creativity was positively correlated with character education because their understanding of creativity and character embraced a very broad range of elements. They mentioned that addressing SSI in the science classes would be satisfactory to cover those elements of CreActer education. Six teachers in Profile B mentioned similar elements of creativity and character of Profile A, but reported that, in their experience, creativity was often inversely correlated with character. However, they responded that addressing SSI would be a good way to integrate creativity and character in the science classes. Ten teachers in Profile C believed there was no relationship between creativity and character, but took a positive stance on CreActer education through SSI. Unlike Profile A and Profile B, they tended to regard character as only an interpersonal virtue. And three teachers in Profile D had a narrow perspective on CreActer education. Not only did they think creativity had no relationship with character, but also disagreed that CreActer education would be activated by addressing SSI in science classrooms. The results imply that SSI could be used as an effective instructional tool for CreActer education, but this can be possible when science teachers expand their view on CreActer education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.472-486
• /
• 2010

The surveys for public awareness in relation to socio-scientific issues (SSI) have been limited to several topics such as public perception of risks about the issues and preference for some policies. To illuminate the public science culture literacy about SSI from a holistic perspective, this study aimed to develop an indicator system. For this purpose, the issue on climate change, which is currently one of the biggest issues worldwide, was adopted as a specific SSI and the framework centering on climate change was developed. Science culture literacy about SSI was defined as a lifestyle to identify SSI from various viewpoints and to cope with problems related to SSI appropriately. In the framework proposed, individual science culture indicators are divided into Potential and Activity area. The Potential consists of categories of Interest, Opinion and Understanding, whereas the Activity is composed of categories of Learning and Practice. To examine the reliability and validity of this framework statistically, the developed questionnaire was reviewed by science educators, environment experts and atmospheric scientists and was used to asked 777 secondary students. Based on the results of statistical analyses, the framework was modified and it consequently had 2 areas, 5 categories, 15 sub-categories, 34 indicators and 63 items. It is expected that the framework of science culture indicators for SSI could be used as a measurement tool for public awareness about various SSI topics.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.229-235
• /
• 2021

Artificial intelligence technology is influencing across all areas as technology advances and social needs change. Therefore, Korean universities have actively developed and operated classes related to artificial intelligence, and have emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence not only in major education but also in liberal arts education. However, there is a lack of research on the development of educational methods and educational programs because artificial intelligence education in liberal arts is in its early stages. SSI is an education that can apply social and ethical problems related to science to open problems that can creatively and reasonably present solutions. SSI can be applied to make AI education more effective. In this study, an artificial intelligence liberal arts curriculum applied SSI was developed with three purposes: First, it is designed is designed so that students subject to education can access it by considering its characteristics as actors of the intelligent information society. Second, it is designed so that students can experience artificial intelligence programs themselves and deal with science technology and social relevance in depth, focusing on various examples of real life. Third, it is designed and approached so that students can participate and cooperate for the purpose of solving common problems to develop cooperative problem-solving skills.

• Journal of Science Education
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.12-26
• /
• 2018

This study examined the effects of SSI argumentation program on the preservice biology teachers' decision-making types and communication ability. The SSI argumentation program was developed based on 'Social Decision-Making & Problem-Solving strategy' and Toulmin's argumentation pattern. The preservice teachers had opportunities of SSI argumentation through small group discussions. They were asked to identify the issues regarding SSI, think of solutions, and make a decision along with claims, warrants, data, and rebuttals. The preservice biology teachers experienced four SSI topics of abortion, euthanasia, gene manipulation, artificial intelligence. The results indicated that the preservice biology teachers significantly improved the communication ability after the intervention, but they did not change their types of decision-making. In addition, after the intervention, the Pearson correlation results indicated that 'the logical type' of decision-making significantly relates to the communication ability(p<.01). The preservice biology teachers mentioned that they improved their ability of considering warrants, data, background information, context, and rebuttals. Further, the preserivce biology teachers mentioned that they became take an interest in socioscientific issues and improved their ability of accepting criticism from others as well as caring about others when they argue each other. This study implicated that the SSI argumentation program has effects on improving personality education in school science.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.895-905
• /
• 2015

Citizens should be sensitive to the complex and controversial SSIs (Socioscientific Issues), be able to make a responsible decision with evidence and empathy, and furthermore take political action for the larger welfare. The premise of this research is that understanding the nature of science (NOS) takes an important role when students and adults participate in the discourse on SSIs because SSI reasoning requires individuals to examine information and counter-information with skepticism. We therefore designed SSI programs that were incorporated with NOS by adapting a contextualized-reflective approach. The leading research question was to what extent SSI contexts contributed to promoting students' understanding of NOS. A total of 71 11th grade students participated in this program. The school was located in an urban city near the capital city of Seoul, South Korea. We designed SSI programs to cover the issues of genetically modified organisms, climate change, and nuclear energy. Each issue required four to six class periods to complete. We conducted pre- and post-program tests using the revised VNOS-C, recorded group discussions or debates and collected student worksheets to observe the increase of student NOS understanding. As a result of this program, students showed moderate improvement in their understanding of NOS.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.62 no.2
• /
• pp.137-147
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study was to analysis total number of 123 SSI programs by SSI criteria. The criteria was consisted of subject, school level, starting point, scientific evidence, social content, use of scientific knowledge, level of conflict of interest, and evaluation and reflection. The results of the analysis are as follows. First, elementary school programs were the most and middle school programs were relatively few. Second, starting point was mainly in the actual situation, the fiction and nonfiction situation, and the situation including the controversy and conflict was less than 10%. Third, it was based on scientific evidence but mainly influenced by individual values and perceptions. Fourth, social contents were developed mainly in ethics/morality/value, political/social life/economy, environment contents. Fifth, the use of scientific knowledge mainly consisted of scientific decision making, scientific critical thinking, and information search. However, science inquiry, risk assessment, and cost effectiveness were less than 10%. Scientific inquiry is the essential factor of science education, and one of core competencies of national science curriculum. SSI program should be able to experience various kinds of conflicts, and to evaluate and reflect through reflection.