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http://dx.doi.org/10.14697/jkase.2010.30.7.887

College Students' Decision-Making Tendencies in the Context of Socioscientific Issues (SSI)  

Chang, Hyun-Sook (Kuksabong Middle School)
Lee, Hyun-Ju (Ewha Womans University)
Publication Information
Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education / v.30, no.7, 2010 , pp. 887-900 More about this Journal
Abstract
This study aimed to identify some tendencies when college students got to making a decision on socioscientific issues. The guiding research questions were as follows. First, what are college students' tendencies in terms of their moral reactions and attitudes toward SSI when they get to making a decision? And second, how do their own circumstances, personalities, and values play a role in shaping their stance on SSI? Data was collected by individual interviews with thirty college students. The results indicated that most participants immediately brought in their own values, worldviews, and feelings in implicit or explicit ways when talking about SSI. Their reactions were influenced by their backgrounds such as religion, and family background, personality, past experiences, personal interests, and prior knowledge. In addition, the responses of the participants presented some tendencies in their decision-making process. The tendencies can be categorized into 1) bringing in personal values without further engagement, 2) being confused with incompatible values, 3) being overwhelmed by too many aspects to consider, and 4) trying to be detached from the issues.
Keywords
Socioscientific issues; SSI; moral reasoning; decision-making; college student; qualitative research;
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