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Large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system (‘geoengineering’ or ‘climate engineering’) is increasingly present in discussions about possible responses to climate change. Research has tended to focus on the acceptability of geoengineering proposals to adults, with youth perspectives under-represented despite the intergenerational consequences of policy in this field. We report on a novel participatory approach to research and practice, resulting in the co-creation of a youth guide and policy brief by participants (aged 17-26) and facilitators. Findings fall into two categories: those pertaining to youth priorities for geoengineering and those in relation to authorial responsibility as an approach to engagement and advancing youth voices. We argue that co-creative and participatory approaches avoid polarisation and build reciprocity into the research process, promoting rational discourse about geoengineering and climate change and its intersection with ethics, politics and society. The model is potentially valuable for engaging youth at the early stages of technoscientific innovations. Tentative conclusions from youth participants are that mitigation efforts must be prioritised, i.e. action is needed now to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and there is a need for proactive international cooperation on the governance of geoengineering and for investment in research to understand potential environmental and social consequences of geoengineering for people at different temporal and spatial scales. Greater public dialogue on geoengineering and its governance is needed, particularly involving young people. The youth guide and policy brief co-authored by participants and facilitators, and the dialogic methods used in their production, can contribute to this dialogue.

Controversies in science are an essential feature of scientific practice: defined here as current problems that are unresolved because there are no accepted procedures by which they can be resolved or there are differing assumptions that affect the interpretation of evidence. Although there has been much attention in science education literature addressing socio-scientific and historical controversies in science, less has been paid to the teaching of contemporary scientific controversies. Using semi-structured qualitative interviews with 18 teachers at different career stages in England, we investigated teachers’ social representations of scientific controversies using the discourse of the collective subject (DSC). We found a lack of controversy in teachers’ responses. Whilst scientific controversies were seen as an essential feature of how science works, they were not viewed as essential in science education and were represented as a distraction and dealt with informally, outside the planned curriculum and in response to students’ questions. Subject knowledge was considered a barrier. We argue that teaching about carefully selected scientific controversies has the potential to contribute to teachers’ and students’ understandings of science and the nature of science. There are perceived to be few opportunities for teachers to exercise this in the English context. We suggest how the collective subject discourses might be used to open up a discussion about teaching controversies in professional learning situations. Materials to stimulate discussion of scientific controversies could be useful in future curriculum development in science, but these would need to address the barriers of subject knowledge, access to literature and conflict with assessment-related priorities and a perceived need to advocate for trust in science.

Objetivou-se, aqui, analisar os discursos científico e religioso, de professores de ciências do Ensino Médio, e de representantes do senso comum (perfis variados, maiores de 18 anos, que não estão envolvidos diretamente na discussão sobre o tema, e não pertencem aos demais grupos estudados), sobre a definição de vida humana. Nesta pesquisa, com abordagem qualitativa, utilizaram-se entrevistas semiestruturadas para a coleta de dados. Os dados foram analisados sob vários olhares teóricos. As "falas" dos sujeitos foram registradas e analisadas por meio de interpretação simples, buscando-se identificar os significados mais importantes. Ao se conjugarem múltiplos discursos, pretendeu-se gerar subsídios a serem utilizados em ambientes de educação formal e não formal em biociências e saúde. Ao se sistematizarem discursos que ordinariamente não são vistos juntos, e este é o ineditismo da pesquisa, buscou-se fornecer informações abrangentes para uso em aulas de ciências sobre vida humana, e, dessa forma, contribuir, significativamente, para o processo ensino-aprendizagem de ciências. This study aimed to analyze and compare the discourse presented by scientists, religious representatives, science high school teachers and the so called "men on the street" (defined here as people above 18 years old, holding different professional and personal profiles and not related to the issue investigated) on the definition of human life. This was qualitative research, using semi structured interviews for collecting the data to be analyzed. Data analysis was made based on different theoretical perspectives. The discourses were registered and analyzed, through simple interpretation. The intention is to provide assistance to be used in formal educational and casual environments in bioscience and health. By classifying discourses that are not ordinarily seen together, and this is the main objective of this exclusive research, we intend to give full information and understanding, that can be used in science lessons. This is our contribution for the for teaching-and learning process in science.

The objective of this article is to present a panorama of the way in which journalistic coverage of science and technological themes is being carried out in Latin America, having as a case study seven newspapers of significant impact in the region. We analyzed all stories published by the science section during all the month of April 2004, in the following newspapers: La Nación, Argentina; El Mercurio, Chile; Mural, Mexico; El Comercio, Ecuador; O Globo, Folha de S. Paulo and Jornal do Commercio/Pernambuco, Brazil. A total of 482 texts were collected. The methodology joins quantitative and qualitative analysis. There are very few studies on science journalism in Latin America and even fewer that seek to explore a comparison among countries. We believe that studies such as ours can provide subsidies to stimulate the improvement of journalistic coverage of scientific and technological issues.