Student Teachers as Advocates for Student-Led Research-Informed Socioscientific Activism

Abstract

Progress has been made in addressing socioscientific issues, such as debates about merits of nuclear power, by encouraging school students to consider complex issues and take positions about them. We contend, however, that they also need to learn to take research-informed actions to address issues. In the study reported here, we concluded—based on constant comparative analyses of qualitative data—that student teachers seemed to develop commitments to advocacy for research-informed actions on socioscientific issues as a result, in part, of their self-directed primary and secondary research. This research appears to have implications for science teacher education, science education, and the well-being of individuals, societies, and environments.

Résumé

Des progrès considérables ont été réalisés en matière de questions socio-scientifiques, par exemple dans les débats sur les mérites de l’énergie nucléaire, en encourageant les étudiants des écoles à se pencher sur des questions complexes et à prendre position à leur sujet. Cependant, nous estimons que les enseignants en formation doivent également apprendre à agir sur la base de recherches déjà réalisées pour affronter ces questions. Dans l’étude dont il est question ici, en nous fondant sur des analyses comparatives continues de données qualitatives, nous avons conclu que, en matière de questions socio-scientifiques, les futurs enseignants semblent de plus en plus engagés à défendre les actions fondées sur la recherche, et ce, en raison de leur propre recherche primaire et secondaire. La présente étude a des implications pour la formation des enseignants de sciences, la didactique des sciences en général, ainsi que le bien-être des individus, des sociétés et des environnements.

Notes

1. This term is one of several in use to describe issues or potential problems stemming from interactions among fields of science and technology and societies (or, more likely, interest groups in them). Socioscientific issues are, more or less, synonymous with STS or STSE issues, the former referring to relationships among fields of science (S) and technology (T) and societies (S), and the latter also considering environments (E). Different authors tend to use different terms for approximately the same meaning.

2. Based on constructivist epistemological positions, pure induction—which, theoretically, involves a direct translation from phenomena of the world to representation(s) of them—does not occur. Development of representations, accordingly, may be thought of in terms of abduction; that is, use of cognitive structures in interpreting phenomena (Lawson, 2005).

3. This is a two-dimensional grid, with lines of equal length intersecting each other at right angles in the middle of each line. The horizontal axis spans a continuum ranging from rationalist through naturalist positions regarding the nature of theory negotiation in the sciences. Rationalists tend to believe in highly systematic methods of science, including rational judgements about theory. Naturalists, by contrast, assume that the conduct of science is highly situational and idiosyncratic, depending on various factors, including psychological, social, cultural, and political influences. The vertical axis, meanwhile, depicts a continuum reflecting the truth value of knowledge, with realist through antirealist positions. Realists believe that scientific knowledge corresponds to reality, while (extreme) antirealists claim that each person's constructions are valid. These continua have ordinal scales. On the rationalist–naturalist continuum, for example, placing a mark close to the rationalist end indicates a strong naturalist view about science. Placing a mark about midway between the two poles, by contrast, indicates that science has moderately rationalist and naturalist features.

4. You can learn more about STEPWISE at http://www.stepwiser.ca. It combines common learning domains (e.g., skills and content education) into a tetrahedral shape to indicate that each domain is codependent on every other. Although the tetrahedron is symmetrical, we have placed STSE (SSIs) actions in the middle to give it significant priority. Nevertheless, in principle, student learning and action can start anywhere and move anywhere within the tetrahedron.

5. A case method is a documentary of some phenomenon and a set of instructions and questions intended to engage learners in interacting with the documentary. One of the case methods used featured a documentary about development of and controversies surrounding the drug Vioxx, as part of the pre-service course.

6. For ethical reasons, all data collection prior to submission of the course grades to administrators was conducted by the research assistant (Sperling), with post-course data collected by the course instructor (Bencze).

7. http://www.squidoo.com/reuse-everything

8. As part of the course under study here, student teachers completed a survey at http://www.politicalcompass.org to explore their political and economic views.

9. Although they received the assignment sheet for the project at the beginning of the course, most student teachers worked on it in earnest after their in-school practice teaching round, which occurred partway through the course, leaving them only 3 weeks to work on the project.