New Perspectives in Science Education

Scientific literacy is widely regarded as one of the most important goals of science education [1], [2], [3]. Socioscientific argumentation is considered a key scientific literacy competency whereby individuals justify their claims by verbally presenting a rationale for their actions when discussing every day issues [4]. Research indicates that teaching science through Socioscientific Issues (SSIs) has the potential to develop students’ socioscientific argumentation skills. There is, however, a dearth of international literature on the impact of SSI in a primary/elementary school context. Within an Irish context SSI is not a feature of the Irish primary science curriculum and therefore an underutilized and under examined theoretical approach to the teaching of science. This study sought to explore whether the teaching of primary science through SSIs has an impact on enhancing primary school students’ socioscientific argumentation skills. Seven primary school teachers and their classes (n=158 students) participated in this study over a six-month period. Findings indicate that teaching primary science through SSI enhanced students’ ability to engage in socioscientific argumentation. In most cases students were able apply their science content knowledge and skills to socioscientific argumentation where students participated in discussions pertaining to a SSI relevant to their everyday lives. This study recommends that SSI education and socioscientific argumentation be an explicit feature of primary/elementary science curricula both nationally and internationally.

Keywords: Scientific Literacy, Socioscientific Argumentation, Socioscientific Issues, Primary Science Education