Metalogue: Preconditions and resources for productive socio-scientific issues teaching and learning

Abstract

It seems natural to include news broadcasts, clips from documentary films, and other media sources to introduce teachers and students to socio-scientific issues (SSI) and to highlight current features of nature of science (NOS). Like the SSI used as contexts in this chapter, media is timely, captures student attention (and therefore qualifies as being “relevant”), and can highlight the different perspectives of individuals concerned with SSI. As someone interested in classroom use of media and how science is represented in the media, I would like to know more about how and why the media clips were selected. In the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) example, it was clear that multiple perspectives were represented through the clips and the accuracy of the information presented was considered. Was the goal to present an overall picture of the issue? Did the teacher use media for a similar purpose? Did any of the other teachers you observed incorporate media from multiple perspectives within one lesson? What impact, if any, do you think the type or content of media might have on student’s decision making around the issues?