1. Socioscientific Issues and Multidisciplinarity in School Science Textbooks
- Author
-
Helen Morris
- Subjects
Value (ethics) ,Genetic engineering ,Multidisciplinary approach ,Content analysis ,Pedagogy ,Sociology ,Science curriculum ,Inclusion (education) ,Science education ,Curriculum ,Education - Abstract
The inclusion of socioscientific issues (SSIs) in the science curriculum is a well-established trend internationally. Apart from claims about its innate value, one of the rationales for this approach is its potential for helping to counter declining interest and participation. SSIs involve the use of science and are of interest to society, also raising ethical and moral dilemmas. Introducing such problems presents a significant and usually cross-disciplinary challenge to curriculum developers and teachers. The aim of this paper is to examine how this challenge has been met when judged against contemporary views of the issues concerned. It first explores how SSIs have been interpreted in an important and innovative science course for students aged 14–16 in England, entitled Twenty First Century Science. This paper analyses the Twenty First Century Science textbooks, focusing in detail on two SSIs, reproductive genetic technology and climate change. For each of these issues, the key ideas present in the soc...
- Published
- 2013