New Perspectives in Science Education

Regardless of how prepared science teachers are, student engagement in class can be a struggle for most teachers at one point in time or another.  In addition, our science classrooms are no longer just places where students learn a series of facts for recall on an assessment.  The world today demands that students, of all ages, need to be able to see connections to their world/place, share their opinions, learn the difference between an opinion and fact, be able to intellectually formulate counter arguments, understand differing views, and critically  think about science in the world around them.   As such, socio-scientific debate can be a powerful diver for science learning in a classroom.  Socio-scientific debate takes a current or on-going issue and allows students to study it within the microcosm of their classroom or school.  Topics can be broad and include: genetic modification, global warming, self-driving cars, cell phone usage, nature vs. nurture and a myriad of other topics based on the standards.  This approach has the potential to work in all science and STEM classrooms.  Students have the opportunity to examine a debate, collect data, and write scientific papers based on the results. In addition, debate allows students to share their opinions, respectively argue their side, critically think about an issue, and can serve as a driver into scientific learning.  Topics can be broad and include: genetic modification, global warming, self-driving cars, cell phone usage, nature vs. nurture and a myriad of other topics based on the standards.  Educators who use socio-scientific debate as precursor for learning stand to greatly improve the engagement of students in the classroom.