• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.739-751
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to identify the differences of argumentation discourses for Socio-Scientific Issues in the types of decision-making and personality traits of pre-service biology teachers. For this study, SSI discussion topics were selected according to four types of decision making: logical reasoning, suggestion of complement, emotional base, and internal conflict. Three groups were constructed based on personality traits such as extroversion, acceptability, and integrity. Each three group used the workbook specially developed and freely used the smart device for discussion. A recorder and a camcorder were used to record each group, their behavior was recorded and the written materials during the discussion were collected for the results. Using Walton's analysis framework, the collected data analyzed in terms of the source of utterance, the process of dialogue shift, and the critical movements that can judge the reasoning of utterance. As a result of the study, it was confirmed that the decision-making type of SSI topics and learners' personalities were influential in the decision-making process of SSI small group discussions. This research shows that there is a need to develop instructional materials considering decision-making types and learners' personality types of students as well as pre-service teachers for SSI discussion.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.59-70
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• 2021

Ability to make informed decisions by critically evaluating media information on socioscientific issues (SSI) is one of the crucial elements of scientific literacy that citizens should obtain. This study aims to investigate how middle school students evaluated media information about socioscientific issues (SSI) when they faced two different types of information (i.e., numerical and empathic information). To achieve the aim, 96 middle school students responded to the questionnaires asking them to evaluate reliability and persuasiveness of SSI media information. The questionnaires consisted of two sets of newspaper articles on each SSI (pro-numerical/empathic, against-numerical/empathic). After reading the articles, the students evaluated reliability and persuasiveness of each article and wrote the reasons for their evaluation. The results were as follows: First, the students believed that news articles with numerical information were more reliable than the ones with empathic information in all SSI contexts. They tended to trust scientific evidence and data from numerical information, and real cases, societal problems, expressions, and values from empathic information. In addition, they evaluated their reliability based on the logic of information, accuracy of information, breadth and depth of data, and quantity and quality of sources both numerical and empathic information. Second, in case of evaluating persuasiveness of the articles, they focused more on the values that information contained, richness and logicality of the information, rather than the types of information, regardless of the type of information.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.501-517
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• 2021

In the present age, when the development of science and technology is leading the changes, this study supports the view that students should possess the literacy to participate democratically and critically in socio-scientific issues, and should be positioned as agentic and participatory citizens. Accordingly, we implemented a club activity that emphasize climate social action for elementary students, and explored how students were positioned in relation to climate change. In this study, position is defined as a complex cluster of rights and duties that students have in relation to climate change. The club activity was implemented throughout 46 sessions from March to July, 2019 for 11 sixth graders of 'H elementary School' in Seoul, and transcripts of video and interviews were analyzed by means of a constant comparison method. In the course of the activity consisting of three steps, the students exhibited different positioning and they are as follows: In the global warming modeling activity for Step 1, students were positioned as 'active learners', but at the same time, they showed a contradiction in being positioned as 'apprentice'. In the student-led research activities inherent to Step 2, they were positioned as 'scientists who design and conduct research' and 'bystanders' due to the controversial nature of SSI knowledge. As students participate in the social actions involved in Step 3, the position changed from 'elementary school students facing difficulty in making a change' to 'participatory citizens creating changes.' This study is significant because it shows students' potential to promote participatory and democratic citizenship through action-oriented SSI activities. In addition, pedagogical approaches were discussed dealing with the contradictions and limitations of positioning.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.67 no.4
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• pp.296-305
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• 2023

This study analyzed the information-seeking behavior of preservice science teachers by observing the process of seeking information needed in a Socioscientific issues (SSI) debate class. Twenty-four fourth-year preservice science teachers participated in the study, and the SSI debate was conducted on the topic of biofuels. The results of the study revealed that preservice teachers go through the process of 'Searching', 'Reviewing', 'Interpreting', and 'Evaluating and Reorganizing' stages when seeking information. The searching stage is divided into identifying topics, role division, and standard setting for a search. The reviewing stage is divided into reviewing sources and reviewing contents. The interpreting stage is divided into interpreting an information and interpreting information from an integrating aspect. In addition, the evaluating and reorganizing stage is divided into evaluating information and reorganizing information. It was found that preservice teachers have difficulty reviewing information and interpreting multiple sources of information in an integrated aspect. Also, it was found that evaluating information activity among preservice teachers' information-seeking behavior affects the level of argumentation in discussions.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.911-920
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• 2017

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of community-based SSI programs (SSI-COMM) regarding "fine dust" on promoting middle school students' understanding of community issues and their character and values as citizens. SSI-COMM on fine dust was implemented in 4 middle schools located in Seoul, and 151 7th graders participated in the program lasting over 8 weeks. Data was collected through two questionnaires (i.e. students' understanding of issues, and character and values as citizens) and individual interviews with selected students. Results indicated that there were statistically significant increases in their understanding of fine dust issue after the program. In addition, the program significantly contributed to enhancing students' character and values, especially in the domains of social and moral compassion and socioscientific accountability. Student interviews revealed that they became more aware of the local community problems caused by fine dusts and started to consider what efforts should be made to solve them. They also felt individual responsibility for the occurrence of fine dust, and the need for participation and practice of community activities for vulnerable groups in affected areas.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.431-442
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• 2015

SSI instruction can be an effective tool to promote key competencies for future citizens. Our assumption of the study is that applying the concept of collective intelligence in the context of SSI learning would facilitate the learning. Thus, we designed and implemented Collective Intelligence-based SSI instruction over almost a year and observed the effects of the instruction on enhancing students' collaboration, information management, critical thinking, and communication skills. Twenty 9th grade students enrolled in a science-gifted program voluntarily participated. Data was collected by administering a questionnaire to examine the skills before, in the middle of, and after the instruction, and by conducting classroom observations and focus student group interviews. The results indicated some degree of improvement in their targeted skills. First, they experienced the expansion of their thoughts by actively sharing information and ideas using the web platform. Second, they became more flexible and open to different points of views in order to accomplish a common goal. Third, they appreciated having independent time and space to explore their own positions on the issues and to search necessary information, and believed that the process encouraged them to more pro-actively participate and communicate in the group debates. Lastly, they positively perceived the values that collaboration with diverse group members could produce.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.135-145
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• 2018

In this study, we investigated the argumentations of group and classroom discussions in socioscientific issues (SSI) discussion classes. Twenty-seven high school students participated in the SSI discussion classes on nuclear power generation. We observed and recorded the classes and also conducted semi-structured interviews. For the analyses, we revised a previous framework that was developed to analyze dialogic argumentations in the context of SSI. The analyses of the results indicated that there were more discourse schemes in the classroom discussions than the group discussions which are related to awareness and openness to multiple perspectives, evidence based reasoning, and on-going inquiry and skepticism. And there were few discourse schemes related to moral and ethical sensitivity in the group and classroom discussions. Various grounds, data, and information were presented in the classroom discussions. Students concentrated on carrying their claims and were not able to sympathize with and accept other opinions. Therefore, there were few discourse schemes to reach consensus. In addition, they perceived classroom discussions as competitive and actively rebutted other claims or grounds. The levels of argumentation were also high in the classroom discussions. The group discussions were held in relaxed atmosphere, and they asked the opponents more for clarification or additional information and evidences. However, classroom discussions were held in serious atmosphere, and they actively queried the validity of the claims or grounds. Based on the results, some suggestions to implement SSI discussion classes were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.66-75
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• 2015

This study is to investigate an argumentation level for elementary school students after analysing an argumentation structure about a socio scientific issue(SSI), and inquire a change of the decision-making according to the refutation materials and empathic situation. This data was collected from the semi-structured interview with the 14 students, grade 6th. For this, the first stage is to present the reading materials about the SSI to the students, let them decision-making and make them argue pro and con about the SSI during the interview. After that, facing with the refutation materials against the existing contention and the empathic situation, the change of the decision-making of the students was conducted. After the research, the level of the argumentation of the students was low, and the students who didn't have the background knowledge about the theme made the decisions according to the values, emotions or intuitions of their own. And the decision-making of the students changed more when presented with the refutation materials and the empathic situation, they were difficult to make the decision because of new information and various stances. Besides, they lacked in the ability that recognize the situation related with their own life, just used the fragmentary knowledge associated with value of life respect. Through these result, it is necessary to produce the refutation materials and empathic materials about the SSI to the students for improving the level of argumentation.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.75-90
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• 2024

Contemporary society faces increasingly diverse risks with expanding impacts. In response, the importance of science education has become more prominent. This study aims to analyze the characteristics of existing research on science-related risk education and derives implications for such education. Using detailed bibliometric analysis, we collected citation data from 83 international scholarly journals (SSCI) in the field of education indexed in the Web of Science with the keywords 'Scientific Risk.' Subsequently, using the bibliometrix package in R-Studio, we conducted a bibliometric analysis. The findings are as follows. Firstly, research on risk education covers topics such as risk literacy, the structure of risks addressed in science education, and the application and effectiveness of incorporating risk cases into educational practices. Secondly, a significant portion of research on risks related to science education has been conducted within the framework of socioscientific issues (SSI) education. Thirdly, it was observed that research on risks related to science education primarily focuses on the transmission of scientific knowledge, with many studies examining formal education settings such as curricula and school learning environments. These findings imply several key points. Firstly, to effectively address risks in contemporary society, the scope of risk education should extend beyond topics such as nuclear energy and climate change to encompass broader issues like environmental pollution, AI, and various aspects of daily life. Secondly, there is a need to reexamine and further research topics explored in the context of SSI education within the framework of risk education. Thirdly, it is necessary to analyze not only risk perception but also risk assessment and risk management. Lastly, there is a need for research on implementing risk education practices in informal educational settings, such as science museums and media.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.253-268
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• 2008

This paper has two major purposes. One is to introduce the essentialist methodology as a way to articulate subjective aspects of human beings (e.g. teachers' personal values and concerns, philosophies, subjective experiences, etc.) at a deeper level. And the other is to present two portraits, as examples, of science teachers who actively address socioscientiifc issues (SSI) out of their own motivations. The primary data source was consecutive in-depth interviews with two science teachers, Jenna and Thomas, and the interviews were conducted on the basis of the principle of the "participant as ally" (Witz, 2006). The articulation based on the essentialist methodology shows that teachers' deep-rooted values and convictions often play a significant role as a personal social capital enough to expand their teaching practice (i.e. teaching SSI). Namely, this study confirms that teachers who are motivated out of their own convictions are likely to actively develop their own personal practical knowledge, and to implement particular topics or teaching strategies.