An Investigation into "Science-Technology-Society" Curricula

과학-기술-사회 교육과정에 관한 연구

Science-Technology-Society curricula have been developed in several countries for the last 20 years. Those curricula were focused on social aspects of science, i.e., value-laden knowledge and scientific enterprise, and society-related scientific and technological issues, i.e., energy, pollution, natural resources. The major teaching models employed in those curricula were problem solving and decision making, which required the following teaching techniques: teacher as a manager, small group discussion, controversy as a motivational force for substantive learning, and sufficient factual information into the discussion. Further researches are to be made to ascertain whether or not the expectations of the curricula might be realized in practice. It was shown that most Korean biology teachers considered the STS-related goal of science education as more important than the other goals. Based upon the findings, some recommendations for development of Korean STS curriculum were made as follows: 1. The contents of the STS curricula are to be organized with the integrated mode; 2. The major teaching models throughout the contents are to be problem solving and decision making. These are considered to provide students with the opportunities to involve in debates on practical issues and to draw consensus from them; 3. Some degree of flexibility should be provided on teachers' implementation of the curriculum in terms of contents, teaching techniques etc.; 4. To increase the practicality of the curriculum, teachers should be involved in the development of the curriculum and the relevant research; and 5. Contents to be included in STS curriculum were suggested by some science educators, but the more systematic study is required in this respect.