• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.59-70
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• 2021

Ability to make informed decisions by critically evaluating media information on socioscientific issues (SSI) is one of the crucial elements of scientific literacy that citizens should obtain. This study aims to investigate how middle school students evaluated media information about socioscientific issues (SSI) when they faced two different types of information (i.e., numerical and empathic information). To achieve the aim, 96 middle school students responded to the questionnaires asking them to evaluate reliability and persuasiveness of SSI media information. The questionnaires consisted of two sets of newspaper articles on each SSI (pro-numerical/empathic, against-numerical/empathic). After reading the articles, the students evaluated reliability and persuasiveness of each article and wrote the reasons for their evaluation. The results were as follows: First, the students believed that news articles with numerical information were more reliable than the ones with empathic information in all SSI contexts. They tended to trust scientific evidence and data from numerical information, and real cases, societal problems, expressions, and values from empathic information. In addition, they evaluated their reliability based on the logic of information, accuracy of information, breadth and depth of data, and quantity and quality of sources both numerical and empathic information. Second, in case of evaluating persuasiveness of the articles, they focused more on the values that information contained, richness and logicality of the information, rather than the types of information, regardless of the type of information.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.787-797
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• 2017

In this study, we investigated the features of using smart devices in socioscientific issues (SSI) debate classes. Twenty-seven high school students in Gyeonggi-do participated in this study. The processes of the SSI debate classes with smart devices were classified into five stages: data searching, data sharing, summary and organization of data, debate in the classroom, and online debate. Then some features at each stage were identified. It was found that they collected self-directed and in-depth data while reflecting their knowledge and experience, and selected data which were easy to understand at the stage of data searching. The specificity and validity of the evidences gathered and the clarity of the sources were improved at the stage of data sharing, although they shared more data offline than online. They organized their data by using paper rather than smart devices at the stage of summary and organization of data. Most of them failed to use the summary in debate. They argued and refuted based on concrete grounds at the stage of debate in the classroom, which raised students' interest in debate and led students to participate actively. At the stage of online debate, they were able to rearrange and review the arguments of both sides, and the participation of the students who were passive in classroom debate was enhanced. Based on these results, we suggest some effective teaching methods for SSI debate classes using smart devices.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.453-464
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• 2017

The purposes of the study are to investigate the experiences of major stakeholders (i.e. science teachers, program instructors, local experts, etc.) who participated in implementing Community-Based Socioscientific Issues Programs (SSI-COMM) and to provide educational implications for further implementation. SSI-COMM dealt with three issues (i.e. abandoned pets, fine dust, and recycling) that students often encountered in their local community. Each program, lasting over 16 class periods in a free semester, included in-school and out-of-school activities in order to promote their interest and participation in community. Four teachers, four program instructors, and six local experts joined the interviews to explain their experience of participating in the programs. As a result, school teachers, program instructors, and local experts positively appreciated their experiences of the program implementation and perceived educational potentials of SSI-COMM. All the stakeholders mentioned that they became more interested in local socioscientific issues and strongly perceived the need for the implementation of such programs linked to their own community. The science teachers appreciated the opportunities to identify students' potentials through SSI-COMM and believed that SSI-COMM would contribute to reducing the gap between learning and practice. The program instructors, observed that out-of-school activities contributed to enhancing students' self-confidence and fulfillment in learning. Finally, the local experts obtained a sense of belonging to their community and were very satisfied with their contribution. The SSI-COMM programs are expected to be one of the educational models that will help to encourage the participation of students and stakeholders in facilitating educational activities in relation to the community.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.431-442
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• 2015

SSI instruction can be an effective tool to promote key competencies for future citizens. Our assumption of the study is that applying the concept of collective intelligence in the context of SSI learning would facilitate the learning. Thus, we designed and implemented Collective Intelligence-based SSI instruction over almost a year and observed the effects of the instruction on enhancing students' collaboration, information management, critical thinking, and communication skills. Twenty 9th grade students enrolled in a science-gifted program voluntarily participated. Data was collected by administering a questionnaire to examine the skills before, in the middle of, and after the instruction, and by conducting classroom observations and focus student group interviews. The results indicated some degree of improvement in their targeted skills. First, they experienced the expansion of their thoughts by actively sharing information and ideas using the web platform. Second, they became more flexible and open to different points of views in order to accomplish a common goal. Third, they appreciated having independent time and space to explore their own positions on the issues and to search necessary information, and believed that the process encouraged them to more pro-actively participate and communicate in the group debates. Lastly, they positively perceived the values that collaboration with diverse group members could produce.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.135-145
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• 2018

In this study, we investigated the argumentations of group and classroom discussions in socioscientific issues (SSI) discussion classes. Twenty-seven high school students participated in the SSI discussion classes on nuclear power generation. We observed and recorded the classes and also conducted semi-structured interviews. For the analyses, we revised a previous framework that was developed to analyze dialogic argumentations in the context of SSI. The analyses of the results indicated that there were more discourse schemes in the classroom discussions than the group discussions which are related to awareness and openness to multiple perspectives, evidence based reasoning, and on-going inquiry and skepticism. And there were few discourse schemes related to moral and ethical sensitivity in the group and classroom discussions. Various grounds, data, and information were presented in the classroom discussions. Students concentrated on carrying their claims and were not able to sympathize with and accept other opinions. Therefore, there were few discourse schemes to reach consensus. In addition, they perceived classroom discussions as competitive and actively rebutted other claims or grounds. The levels of argumentation were also high in the classroom discussions. The group discussions were held in relaxed atmosphere, and they asked the opponents more for clarification or additional information and evidences. However, classroom discussions were held in serious atmosphere, and they actively queried the validity of the claims or grounds. Based on the results, some suggestions to implement SSI discussion classes were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.67 no.4
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• pp.296-305
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• 2023

This study analyzed the information-seeking behavior of preservice science teachers by observing the process of seeking information needed in a Socioscientific issues (SSI) debate class. Twenty-four fourth-year preservice science teachers participated in the study, and the SSI debate was conducted on the topic of biofuels. The results of the study revealed that preservice teachers go through the process of 'Searching', 'Reviewing', 'Interpreting', and 'Evaluating and Reorganizing' stages when seeking information. The searching stage is divided into identifying topics, role division, and standard setting for a search. The reviewing stage is divided into reviewing sources and reviewing contents. The interpreting stage is divided into interpreting an information and interpreting information from an integrating aspect. In addition, the evaluating and reorganizing stage is divided into evaluating information and reorganizing information. It was found that preservice teachers have difficulty reviewing information and interpreting multiple sources of information in an integrated aspect. Also, it was found that evaluating information activity among preservice teachers' information-seeking behavior affects the level of argumentation in discussions.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.467-480
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• 2018

This study aims to investigate how flipped learning-based socioscientific issue instruction (FL-SSI instruction) affected middle school students' key competencies and character development. Traditional classrooms are constrained in terms of time and resources for exploring the issues and making decision on SSI. To address these concerns, we designed and implemented an SSI instruction adopting flipped learning. Seventy-three 8th graders participated in an SSI program on four topics for over 12 class periods. Two questionnaires were used as a main data source to measure students' key competencies and character development before and after the SSI instruction. In addition, student responses and shared experience from focus group interviews after the instruction were collected and analyzed. The results indicate that the students significantly improved their key competencies and experienced character development after the SSI instruction. The students presented statistically significant improvement in the key competencies (i.e., collaboration, information and technology, critical thinking and problem-solving, and communication skills) and in two out of three factors in character and values as global citizens (social and moral compassion, and socio-scientific accountability). Interview data supports the quantitative results indicating that SSI instruction with a flipped learning strategy provided students in-depth and rich learning opportunities. The students responded that watching web-based videos prior to class enabled them to deeply understand the issue and actively engage in discussion and debate once class began. Furthermore, the resulting gains in available class time deriving from a flipped learning approach allowed the students to examine the issue from diverse perspectives.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.253-268
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• 2008

This paper has two major purposes. One is to introduce the essentialist methodology as a way to articulate subjective aspects of human beings (e.g. teachers' personal values and concerns, philosophies, subjective experiences, etc.) at a deeper level. And the other is to present two portraits, as examples, of science teachers who actively address socioscientiifc issues (SSI) out of their own motivations. The primary data source was consecutive in-depth interviews with two science teachers, Jenna and Thomas, and the interviews were conducted on the basis of the principle of the "participant as ally" (Witz, 2006). The articulation based on the essentialist methodology shows that teachers' deep-rooted values and convictions often play a significant role as a personal social capital enough to expand their teaching practice (i.e. teaching SSI). Namely, this study confirms that teachers who are motivated out of their own convictions are likely to actively develop their own personal practical knowledge, and to implement particular topics or teaching strategies.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.3-12
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• 2020

This study explores the effects of an SSI-based program focused on character and values for engineering college students. The participants were fifty-four students enrolled in the program. Data sources include the students' responses to the Likert-type questionnaire on character and values as well as qualitative data such as classroom dialogues, assignment essays and field notes. The results indicate that the program significantly contributed to the enhancement of the engineering college students' perception of character and values, especially in the sub-components, sustainable development, perspective-taking, and willingness to act. In addition, the qualitative data reveals the nuances of the students' responses in the classroom dialogue and essays related to the sub-components. Based on the results, the author compares the participants' responses to other students in previous research which reported the effects of an SSI-based program on character and values. Compared to the other students, the engineering students in this study cultivated willingness to act through the SSI-based program, without improvement in most of the emotional aspects of character and values.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.1124-1138
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• 2012

This study investigates Korean middle school students' perceptions as global citizens (i.e. ecological worldview, social and moral compassion, and socioscientific accountability) of Socioscientific Issues (SSI). We developed questionnaires that consisted of 20 Likert-type items to gauge their preceptions of the three different SSI contexts (i.e. nuclear power generation, bio-technology, climate change), and administered them to 225 9th grade students in Seoul. The results revealed that participants showed relatively high scores for ecological worldview but scored low on social and moral compassion across the SSI contexts. In addition, participants presented much higher scores for ecological worldview and socioscientific accountability regarding the issues of climate change. The participant responses indicated that they perceived more inter-connectedness with the environment and felt the responsibility of promoting sustainable development more to prevent further devastation in the context of climate change compared to nuclear power generation or biotechnology.