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Positionality Reloaded: Über die Dimensionen der Reflexivität im Verhältnis von Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft: Ein Editorial«. It cannot be denied that reflexivity has become a must in social science methodological discourse in recent decades. The uses and functions of reflexivity in the research process have been well addressed historically, be it with regard to researchers' subjectivity, their perspectivity shaped by social origin and biographical life path, or their possible asymmetrical power relations with investigated actors. Nevertheless, we see an urgent need to discuss these issues. We claim that the practice of reflexivity, seriously shaken by the current transformation of (the understandings of) academic knowledge production, has become a challenging duty to fulfill. There is no straight and easy answer to the big questions of "for whom" and "for what purpose" do we produce "what kind of" knowledge and "how." Struggling for an appropriate positioning within global societal developments, we dedicate this special issue to the search for a critical, and the exploration of a lucid, (self-)reflection of academic research. In this respect, this special issue, Positionality Reloaded: Debating the Dimensions of Reflexivity in the Relationship Between Science and Society, sets out to explore how coexisting yet diverse conceptions of academic research and knowledge production can be reflexively considered and related to each other from an epistemological, ethico-normative, and ontological point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science appears to be conning under increasing pressure in parts of society and the media, with an increase in 'fake news' and less regard for 'experts'. If this is to be combatted, it is important that students develop a good understanding of both the big conceptual ideas of science and the nature of science itself. This understanding will mean the public is better placed to make sense of scientific information and hopefully build trust in the scientific process. This article, which follows on from Part 1 where the issues around teachers' understanding of the nature of science were explored, looks at some teaching strategies and resources that might be used to address the issues raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secondary-age students were asked about some science-related careers, using an 'interviews-about-scenarios' technique. This article reflects on students' comments relating to the nature of scientific knowledge. Some comments reflected the aim of science as a means to better understand the world and our place in it. Other comments reflected perceptions of the possibility of applying scientific knowledge to engineer change - something that had great benefits, but also risks. There was also evidence that some students might hold misleadingly positivistic notions about scientific knowledge that may distort perceptions of some areas of scientific work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the future for school science and in particular for practical work? This article explores the question from four perspectives and seeks solutions for different age groups in the UK and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates how understanding science in context is not a luxury but a necessity in our times. In order to make sense of a complex issue such as a pandemic, pupils need to understand not only how scientists do science but also how science relates to other school subjects. By drawing on findings from funded research projects based at the University of Oxford, the article provides concrete strategies for meaningful engagement in practical science and cross-subject discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Filosofia UNISINOS is the property of Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Veritas is the property of EDIPUCRS - Editora Universitaria da PUCRS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of IBEROAMERICANA. América Latina - España - Portugal is the property of Vervuert Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The development of Citizen Science has accelerated recently. Alongside its advantages, the involvement of lay people (volunteers, citizens) implies ethical concerns for scientists. Hence, this contribution aims to describe ethical concerns drawing on empirical cases found in the scientific literature on Citizen Science projects and public engagement related research projects where Citizen Science and public engagement are seen as complementary to science and technology. This review testifies that from an ethical perspective scientists encounter several multi-faceted occasions in both Citizen Science projects and public engagement related research projects, such as how to engage the public, to represent it, to accept public-provided data, to attribute authorship for public-sourced data and so on. In line with this, scientists ought to be socially responsible, and thus ethical. To make this possible, appropriate institutional policy should be developed or improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We propose an operationalization of Becher and Trowler's urban and rural analogy relying on bibliographic network connectivity. • We test it on a dataset of 10 specialisms from 5 disciplines. • The humanities (rural) are organised in many smaller topics, with a lower people-to-problem ration than the sciences (urban). • The analogy does not apply with respect to the reliance on core sources between the two groups of disciplines, as the sciences have more of them. • More work is needed in order to empirically test theories from the sociology of science and to theoretically inform empirical studies in quantitative science studies. Abstract We propose an operationalization of the rural and urban analogy introduced in Becher and Trowler (2001). According to them, a specialism is rural if it is organized into many, smaller topics of research, with higher author mobility among them, lower rate of collaboration and productivity, lower competition for resources and citation recognitions compared to an urban specialism. It is assumed that most humanities specialisms are rural while science specialisms are in general urban: we set to test this hypothesis empirically. We first propose an operationalization of the theory in most of its quantifiable aspects. We then consider specialisms from history, literature, computer science, biology, astronomy. Our results show that specialisms in the humanities present a sensibly lower citation and textual connectivity, in agreement with their organization into more, smaller topics per specialism, as suggested by the analogy. We argue that the intellectual organization of rural specialisms might indeed be qualitative different from urban ones, discouraging the straightforward application of citation-based indicators commonly applied to urban specialisms without a dedicated re-design in acknowledgement of these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cinta de Moebio is the property of Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Ciencas Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article looks at how the nature of truth in science is not absolute and in accepting the idea that certain 'laws' are sufficiently true we can unlock the rigidity of discipline-based scientific thinking to make the possibility of tackling many of the grand challenges facing society a reality. The nature of Open Science is focused on the fact that knowledge is freely available via the internet and it is how we use that knowledge that is important. Two examples are chosen to demonstrate how this is now being used by school and university students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to develop a flow map for history of science instruction on nature of science (NOS) using a cognitive strategy. This is done to enhance overall scientific literacy through specificity and reflectiveness, and to examine pre-service elementary teachers' understanding of the NOS using NOS flow maps concerning Galileo's discovery of sunspots. There exists a general consensus in the science education literature regarding the goal of enhancing learners' views of the NOS. An extensive body of research in the field has highlighted the effectiveness of explicit NOS instructional approaches in improving learners' views on the NOS. Because it is valuable to introduce elementary students to some of the ideas developed by Kuhn, pre-service elementary teachers' understanding of the NOS was explored using an explicit NOS flow map developed as an instructional tool. The lessons combined cognitive conflict strategies in episodes concerning the history of science (Galileo's discovery of sunspots) with accompanying responses consisting of illustrations and questions. The lessons were designed to spend 50 minutes on study of the history of science, including conflict strategy, and 30 minutes on an explicit NOS flow map including all elements of the NOS. Students demonstrated understanding of tentativeness of scientific knowledge, and the lack of a universal scientific method. Therefore, instruction based on an NOS flow map is a promising method to enhance science teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Journal of Educational Research, Assessment & Evaluation / Revista Electrónica de Investigación y Evaluación Educativa is the property of RELIEVE - Revista Electonica de Investigacion y Evaluacion Educativa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The ‘liberal’ feminist perspective on science problematises the presence of fewer women than men in science and believes that increasing their number would qualify as social change. On the other hand, ‘radical’ critics of modern science argue that science has been deeply involved in the creation, strengthening and subversion of gender inequalities. The liberal strand is much more amenable to direct interventions and aligns well with current educational reforms. But the fundamental questions about science and science education that are raised by the radical strand not just evade agreement, but they also do not lead easily to direct educational implications. In this article, I show that an engagement with these perspectives offers us a chance to reflect on our society, on the place of science in it, and on the role of science education in mediating between science and society. This reflection further encourages us to rethink and reorganise science and science education so that they are more mindful of the gender and other kinds of power dynamics in our society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Synthesis Philosophica is the property of Croatian Philosophical Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Estudos Avancados is the property of Instituto de Estudos Avancados da Universidade de Sao Paulo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper provides a framework to assess the contribution of science and innovation to society. It is divided into three parts. The first part reviews the indicators of the impact of science and innovation available in the literature and explains why economic indicators dominate the field. It also discusses some exercises that try to extend the discussions and measurements of impact to more intangible dimensions, and shows that these interesting results nevertheless fail to properly address the issue. The second part develops a typology of impact covering eleven dimensions. Beyond the economic dimension, the typology concentrates on more intangible ones. Finally, in the end, the third part discusses the challenges confronting social scientists and statisticians interested in measuring the impact of science and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution looks into changing institutional logics in the field of academic science in Germany using the case of the merger between the University of Karlsruhe and the Research Center Karlsruhe as an example. As a result of an ongoing process of critique, a new institutional logic of "organizational competition" was theorized over time that contradicted the dominant logic of "corporatist planning." The conditions for the merger case were 1) an increasing alignment and cooperation between both organizations as an outcome of the public critique of big science research institutes, and 2) the rise of a new institutional logic of organizational competition including the organizational implementation of a new management model of science, notably the concept of the "entrepreneurial university" (e.g. the MIT in the United States). After the merger had been decided, political activities shifted from a projective "mode of theorization" to a pragmatic "mode of negotiation." The institutionalization of the new "Karlsruhe Institute of Technology" (KIT) was shaped by two competing logics: Whereas the state and the Helmholtz Society did not want to lose their influence, the new KIT was committed to the concept of the "entrepreneurial university" and thus to a higher degree of organizational autonomy and strategic management. The final outcome was a compromise built on a layered structure that combined pre-existing and new organizational structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue contains a selection of papers presented during the 2014 Bergen meeting, complemented with short perspectives by young PNS-inspired scholars, presented at a mini-symposium “Post-normal times? New thinking about science and policy advice” held on 21 October 2016 in celebration of Silvio Funtowicz' 70th birthday, also in Bergen. In addition, the issue includes two more extended commentaries on the present crisis in science and the post-fact/post-truth discourse, one from Europe (Saltelli and Funtowicz, this issue) and one from Japan (Tsukahara, this issue). Far from being a complete representation of the discussions at both symposia, the six papers, three short perspectives on PNS and two extended commentaries on the present crisis, represent relevant reflections on the current state and possible future scope of PNS in the context of the rapidly changing role of science in governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present day reasoning about difficulties in science reproducibility, science governance, and the use of science for policy could benefit from a philosophical and historical perspective. This would show that the present crisis was anticipated by some scholars of these disciplines, and that diagnoses were offered which are not yet mainstream among crisis-aware disciplines, from statistics to medicine, from bibliometrics to biology. Diagnoses in turn open the path to possible solutions. This discussion is urgent given the impact of the crises on public trust in institutions. We ask whether the present crisis may be seminal in terms of drawing attention to alternative visions for the role of Science in society, and its relevant institutional arrangements. We finish by offering a number of suggestions in this direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper identifies three failures of current engineering ethics and suggests that a post-normal turn may help redesign a more demanding ethics for engineering practice. Finally it outlines some difficulties that such a post-normal engineering ethics may face, especially in the French context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The norms and values of Post-Normal Science (PNS) are instrumental in guiding science advice practices. In this article, we report work in progress to systematically investigate the norms and values of PNS through a structured review. An archive of 397 documents was collected, including documents that contribute to the endeavour of ameliorating science advice practices from a PNS perspective. Action and structure-oriented viewpoints are used as complementing perspectives in the analysis of the ethos of PNS. From the action-perspective we study how prototypes of norms and values are reflected upon in negotiations of normative issues relating to science advice. From the structural perspective we study how interrelated prototypes of norms and values are presupposed in prescriptions, proscriptions, and goals for science advice practices. Through this analysis we identify a plurality of interrelated prototypes of norms and values. Finally, we propose an acronym that integrates the analysed plurality of norms and values. As a mnemonic and communicative devise we call this ethos TRUST (Transparency, Robustness, Uncertainty management, Sustainability, and Transdisciplinarity) and propose TRUST as a nexus for future reflective negotiations of ambivalences in post-normal practices of science advice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society is changing towards a peer-to-peer society that is characterised by a new way to produce things, ranging from software to food, to cities, to scientific knowledge. This requires a new role for science. Instead of focusing on knowledge production for NGO's, governments and business, scientists should become aware that the citizen will be the new decision-maker in a future peer-to-peer (p2p) society, and produce suitable and accessible knowledge, and work together with citizen scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our representations of climate are changing, and with them the ways we claim to know our local climates, and live according to them. Amidst this destabilising change in natural and social orders, scientific representations of climate are emerging as dominant. In this perspective piece I start from post-normal science and offer two arguments against completely yielding climate representation to experts, illustrated by my experiences in northeast Bangladesh. Descriptively, abandoning non-scientific representations and knowledge of climate results in a smaller and more fragile knowledge base for adaptation. Normatively, it is our common enterprise to rediscover the places we inhabit; it is not the responsibility of the expert community alone to reinterpret our places under a changing climate. Looking at the co-existence of modern and pre-modern representations of climate in Bangladesh, I suggest that post-normal science approaches may help bridge these different representations, with equal attention to their quality for adaptation, and the values and meanings underpinning them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests adopting a ‘post-normal science’ (PNS) style and practice in scientific advice, and motivate the urgency of this methodological stance with the increasing complexity, and polarisation affecting the use of science-based evidence for policy. We reflect on challenges and opportunities faced by a ‘boundary organisation’ that interfaces between science and policy, taking as example the European Commission’s Directorate General Joint Research Centre, whose mission is stated as that to be the “in-house science service”. We suggest that such an institution can be exemplary as to what could be changed to improve the quality of evidence feeding into the policy processes in the European Union. This paper suggests how an in-house culture of reflexivity and humility could trigger changes in the existing styles and methods of scientific governance; at the JRC, taken as example, this would mean opening up to the existing plurality of norms and styles of scientific inquiry, and adopting more participatory approaches of knowledge production, assessment and governance. We submit that the institutional changes advocated here are desirable and urgent in order to confront the ongoing erosion of trust in ‘evidence based policy’, anticipating controversies before they become evident in the institutional setting in which institutions operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology does not only help humans to overcome natural challenges, but also has a dromological function in terms of channelling, communicating, connecting goods, information and messages, anonymous masses, and the needs from one pole to another, from one region to another, and even from one organ to another. In treating this phenomenon, Paul Virilio is fascinated by the accident which is assessed as value and danger of technologies. This article, then, aims to deal with the problem of dromological technology and its ethical implications for democracy and human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The means by which individuals evaluate the personal reputations of others, and manage their own personal reputations, as determined by information shared on social media platforms, is investigated from an information science perspective. The paper is concerned with findings from a doctoral study that takes into account prior work on the building and assessment of reputations through citation practice, as explored in the domain of scientometrics. Method. Following the practice of studies of everyday life information seeking (ELIS), a multi-step data collection process was implemented. In total forty-five participants kept diaries and took part in semi-structured interviews. In this paper fifteen of these participants are represented. Analysis. A qualitative analysis of the data was undertaken using NVivo10 to consider the information practices of one of three age group cohort generations: Generation X. Results. Results generated from this initial analysis show some clear alignments with established knowledge in the domain, as well as new themes to be explored further. Of particular note is that social media users are more interested in the content of the information that is shared on social media platforms than they are in the signals that this information might convey about the sharer(s). It is also rare for these users to consider the impact of information sharing on personal reputation building and evaluation. Conclusion. The analysis of the full dataset will provide further insight on the specific theme of the role of online information in personal reputation management, and contribute to theory development related to the study of information seeking behaviour and use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. This study examined if and how information behaviour researchers include research rigour tactics in reports of their research projects. Method. A content analysis was conducted of the 193 research reports published in the 1996 - 2014 ISIC proceedings. Analysis. Articles were coded for author affiliation, rigour tactics reported, and whether or not enough information was presented to allow readers to assess the quality of the research and replicate the study. Both quantitative (frequencies) and qualitative (excerpts from the articles) data are reported. Results. In total 698 research rigour tactics were reported for an average of 3.6 per paper, a median of 3 per paper and a range of 0 - 20 tactics across all papers. Twenty-six papers (13.5%) included no rigour tactics at all while 8 (4.1%) included ten or more. Only 76 (39.4%) provided enough information for readers to assess the quality of the study, with fewer (n=44; 22.8%) providing enough information to allow for replication of the study. Conclusions. Both quantitative and qualitative empirical work is not being reported in ISIC papers in ways that clearly demonstrate research rigour, nor assure replicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the science studies and materiality as terms that offer language and ethics that account for nuanced and dynamic materiality for the inseparability of body and self.

The paper poses the question whether the economics of science could be the key to economic methodology. First, the sociology of science, which tries to put science in social context, is described. Then, the economic approach to science inspired by Bartley, Wible, Tullock, Stigler and Becker is explained. We point out that knowledge originates in the competitive process of scientific criticism in similar way as economic wealth originates in the competitive market process and the competition among many individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a literary criticism of the book "Cultura faz sentido: Orientações entre o ontem e o amanhã," by Jörn Rusen. It is commented that the book allows Brazilian readers understand culture and science with vocabulary and instigating reflections. It is stated that there is conceptual deepening, rearrangement of systematizations and expansion of historical perspectives.

Copyright of Estudos Avancados is the property of Instituto de Estudos Avancados da Universidade de Sao Paulo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The technology of Partitioning and Transmutation (P&T), which could be used to convert part of the long-lived high-level radioactive substances contained in spent fuel rods into shorter-lived fission products, is currently under research and development. It could provide one means of reducing the long-term hazard potential of heat-generating waste. In an interdisciplinary project the technological and societal risks and opportunities of P&T have been discussed by means of four societal development scenarios, all of which presuppose that Germany opts out of the use of nuclear power. This risk appraisal with the combination of risk and concern assessment is one important aspect (besides risk management, communication etc.) for the risk governance of nuclear power. The objective was to work out a factual, balanced basis on which to decide Germany's future position on matters of P&T research. This contribution characterizes systemic risks and stresses of the political ambiguity associated with P&T. It discusses the societal methodology and the results of this project with regard to the situation in Germany and Europe in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveillance can be experienced in a variety of ways, but how these experiences might be linked to broader social patterns is currently underdeveloped. There is a growing body of research exploring the surveillance subject and how individuals may (dis)engage with surveillance practices. This includes (but is not limited to) surveillance as a bargaining process (Pallitto 2013), counter surveillance activities such as sousveillance (Mann, Nolan and Wellman 2003), and surveillance as a process of exposing subjects (Ball 2009). But while shedding light on the experiences of surveillance subjects, how these experiences might be placed in relation to broader social and surveillance structures is not always automatically evident. This paper presents an initial engagement with this topic, and suggests that a possible angle for linking surveillance subjects to broader social patterns may be achieved through concepts from science and technology studies, specifically Irwin and Michael's (2003) concept of the ethnoepistemic assemblage (EEA). The EEA is a theoretical heuristic originally envisioned to help understand the blurred relationships between science and society, emphasising the heterogeneous composition and relationship of technoscience and society. The EEA specifically links an individual's contexts (ethnos), and the forms of knowledge relevant to their contexts (episteme), into assemblages, highlighting the interwoven, dynamic, and fluid nature of ethno-epistemes against and in conjunction with other EEAs, and other social narratives. A brief exploration of the marginal positioning of surveillance subjectivities is presented, followed by a detailed description of the EEA, and how it may contribute to structuring and placing the complexities of surveillance subjects in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asclepio is the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Communication of sciences / arts lies at the core of a museum public activity. It is a special type of communication, meant to make the collections and the domain of the expertise of the museum accessible to a wide public in order to fulfill the special culural and social role that museums have in the contemporary society. This can not be achieved without the cooperation of visitors, as well as the museum stakeholders. For fruitful relationships, museums have to design their activity and public offer taking into account the characteristics as well as the interests of various segments of its audience. The present paper discusses the prerequisits for a succesful museum exhibition. Special attention is given to designing an effective exhibition on the history of communism. By investigating the profile of the potential visitors for such an exhibition, the paper draws a framework to be considered when designing it. The discussion is timely, since in the last few years there are discussions and initiatives related with the establishement of a museum of communism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Llull: Revista de la Sociedad Espanola de Historia de las Ciencias y de las Tecnicas is the property of Sociedad Espanola de Historia de las Ciencias y de las Tecnicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Education / Socialinis Ugdymas is the property of Vytautas Magnus University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study investigates Arabic terms related to fresh water sources expressed in Oman's toponyms. It presents their classification and discusses the semantic and structural properties of both the place names and the hydrological lexicon. A description of oasis agriculture among the inhabitants is also given as necessary background for understanding the importance of locating water and its effect on landscape delimitation and categorization. In an environment without permanent water bodies, the significance of this resource is reflected in the way people conceptualize their landscape, minutely classifying its hydrological features and expressing them in toponyms. Historically, their knowledge of water sources has contributed to better land use management and sustainability of Oman's oasis agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-scientific issues, which are often controversial, involve the use of science and are of interest to society, raising ethical and moral dilemmas. Examples of these issues could include genetic technology or air pollution. Following a curriculum reform in England in 2006, socio-scientific issues now have a heightened presence in the 14-16 science curriculum. This article reports on the findings of a study that used the context of this reform to explore how girls are responding to the teaching of socio-scientific issues. It shows how girls within one school had diverse responses to lessons that included these types of issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current approaches in Science Education attempt to enable students to develop an understanding of the nature of science, develop fundamental scientific concepts, and develop the ability to structure, analyze, reason, and communicate effectively. Students pose, solve, and interpret scientific problems, and eventually set goals and regulate their own learning by doing science and reasoning scientifically (NRC, 2000; Rutherford & Ahlgren, 1991). This study investigated pre-service science teachers' views about the nature of science (NOS) and considered an explicit-reflective instructional practice to promote pre-service science teachers' appropriate NOS views. Methodology for this study included: VNOS-C (Abd-El-Khalick, Bell, & Lederman, 1998; Lederman, Schwartz, Abd-El-Khalick, & Bell, 2001), Myths of Science survey (McComas, 1998), associated interviews that tracked the changes in the NOS views of pre-service science teachers at the end of the course, and video-records of the NOS workshop in the second semester. Pre-service science teachers were interviewed by using the VNOS-D (Lederman & Khisfe, 2002) to track changes in their NOS views at the end of the course. Based on the results from the analysis of the surveys, interviews, and video-recordings, pre-service science teachers made substantial increases in their views of the NOS aspects. Less considerable gains were evident in the case of the subjective, social and cultural aspects of the NOS. The results of this study support the impact of an explicit-reflective NOS instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]