Nano materials can today be found in a wide range of consumer products and the number of new products on the market is expected to inrease. In the shadow of hope for nano materilas potential in various applications, low awareness of its health and environmental risks is hiding. Furthermore, the knowledge about people´s risk perception of nano materials is limited. Parallel to the situation described above, the scholls meet the challenge of incrasing the scientific literacy. To achieve this goal, skills in argumentation in science studies has been emphasized and the concept of socio-scientific issues has been emerged. Using focus groups as a method, this study aimed first, to explore young engineering student´s risk perception of nano materials, and secont to analyze the extent to which they apply scientific konwledge to argue about nano materials. The material from the focus group interviews was analyzed with respect to both content and interaction. To analyze the content, a thematic classification of the material was made. The interactive and communicative forms were highlighted by an analysis of arguments according to the SEE-SEP-model. Seven themes were indentified from the focus group material. It was also assumed that 55 percent of the participants´arguments were based on values, 25 percent on konwledge and 20 percent on personal experiences. Despite the absence of specific knowledge, the young engineering students have the ability to conduct a complex argumentation about nano materials where they involve the paradox; new opportunities, inresolved risks. Their risk perception is not primarily based on knowledge but on emotional expressions such as fascination, hope, resignation and fear. / Nanomaterial återfinns idag i ett brett spektrum av konsumentprodukter och antalet nya produkter förväntas öka på marknaden. I skuggan av förhoppningar om nanomaterialens potential i allehanda tillämpningar döljer sig bristfälliga kunskaper om dess hälso- och miljörisker. Vidare är kunskapen om människors riskpercetion an nanometrial begränsad. Parallellt med den ovan beskrivna situationen står skolan inför utmaningen att öka den naturvetenskapliga allmänbildningen. För att uppnå målet har kompetens inom argumentation i de naturorienterande ämnene betonats och begreppet sociovetenskapliga dilemman vuxit fram. Med fokusgrupper dom metod har studien syftat dels till att undersöka unga teknikstuderandes riskperceetpion av nanomaterial, dels till att analysera i vilken utsträckning de tillämpar vetenskapliga kunskaper för att argumentera om nanomaterial. Materialet från fokusgruppsintervjuerna analyserades med avseende på både innehåll och interaktion. För att analysera innehållet gjordes en tematisk indelning av materialet. De interaktiva och kommunikativa formerna belystes genom en argumentationsanalys enligt SEE-SEP-modellen. Sju teman identifierades ur fokusgruppmaterialet. Vidare utgick 55 % av deltagarnas argument från värderingar. därefter kom kunskap med 25 % och sist personliga erfarenheter med 20 %. Trots avsaknad av specifik kunskap, har unga teknikstuderande förmågan att föra en komplex argumentation om nanomaterial där de berör pradoxen; nya möjligheter, outredda risker. Deras riskperception baseras inte främst på kunskaper utan på emotionella uttryck så som fascination, hopp,uppgivenhet och rädsla.

This thesis aims to explore students’ argumentation and decision-making relating to authentic socioscientific issues (SSI). The ability to make informed decisions about socio scientific issues has been recognized to be an important element in science education to achieve the goal of scientific literacy. However, deliberation on SSIs deals with the fact-value intertwinement and has proven to be a tricky affair, both for students and teachers. In paper I, the focus is on upper secondary students’ use of different reasons in arguing about the existence of wolfs in Sweden. To investigate the students’ ability to find supporting reasons from different subject areas in their informal argumentation, the SEE-SEP model was used as an analytical framework. The results showed that the value aspect dominates students’ informal argumentation on the SSI of wolves in Sweden. In paper II a six-step SSI instructional model is presented, designed to develop students’ ability to argue about complex multi-disciplinary issues. This six-step SSI instructional model aims to create a forum that encourages students to interact with one-another and discuss their arguments dynamically. In paper III students’ argumentation and decision-making upon an authentic SSI relating to environmental toxins in fish from the Baltic Sea, was studied. The students’ argumentation and decision making processes were followed closely and data were collected during multiple stages of the SSI-instructional model. The analysis focused on students’ skills of evaluation and the relationships between the values, knowledge and experiences that they used in their argumentation. The results showed that even though all of the students had access to the same information and agreed on the factual aspects of the issue, they came to different decisions, depending on their background values, knowledge and experiences (i.e. their intellectual baggage). Implications for teaching and research are discussed. / Förmågan att fatta välgrundade beslut i sociovetenskapliga dilemman (SSI) har lyfts fram som ett viktigt inslag i naturvetenskaplig undervisning för att förbereda eleverna på ett liv som medborgare i ett samhälle där kontroversiella frågor med naturvetenskaplig koppling förekommer i allt högre grad. Att hantera SSI-frågor i undervisningen och handskas med sammanflätningen av vetenskapliga fakta, värderingar och etiska perspektiv innebär dock stora utmaningar för både elever och lärare. Fokus i denna avhandling är inriktat mot att ytterligare synliggöra de ingående komponenterna och processerna som sker i arbetet med SSI-frågor, och därmed belysa viktiga aspekter som bör iakttas vid implementering av SSI-frågor i undervisningen. Genom studie I detekteras olika argument baserade på kunskaper, värderingar respektive erfarenheter kopplat till olika ämnesområden, och i studie II förs resonemang att det s.k. intellektuella baggaget, bestående av personliga värderingar, kunskaper och erfarenheter, styr viktning och värdering av olika argument och därmed vilket beslut som slutligen tas. En given slutsats är att SSI-baserad undervisning i det naturvetenskapliga klassrummet alltid måste bygga på en tolerans för en sammanflätning av vetenskapliga fakta, värderingar och etiska perspektiv.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:37:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5637.pdf: 2177705 bytes, checksum: afd5655abe776078291da7fc58cc7aeb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-01-23 / This research has focused on exploring the possibilities and limitations of a WebQuest as an educational tool implemented to cover different topics of Organic Chemistry related to plague insects and their biological control in crop management, Controle Bioracional de Insetos Praga (CBIP), a research program linked to the National Institute of Science and Technology (INCT) at UFSCar. This case study dealt with the controversial socioscientific issue that represented the control of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) which caused damage on local corn crops, and was performed by a high school class in the Junqueira Educational Center, located in Morro Agudo, SP. The relationships among science, technology and society (STS) and central dimensions to make decisions regarding the addressed problem, as well as the learning possibilities offered by the WebQuest could be understood in a broader context. In order to evaluate the student s performance, their whole textual production towards the resolution of the problem was considered (questionnaires, reports, power point presentations etc.), exposing the alternatives found for this particular plague control in corn crops (mechanical, biological and chemical methods), pretending for that matter to be a fictitious company responsable for the optimization of its corn production. It was possible to verify that the students previously divided into three groups managed this particular task successfully which required analytical and scientific judgement. / Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal analisar as potencialidades e limitações do desenvolvimento e aplicação de uma WebQuest como material didático on-line, que aborda conteúdos de Química Orgânica relacionados ao Controle Biorracional de Insetos Pragas (CBIP), um programa de pesquisa vinculado ao Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT) do DQ-UFSCar. Por meio do estudo de um caso sociocientífico controverso acerca do controle de lagarta-do-cartucho do milho (Spodoptera frugiperda) por alunos do 3º ano do Ensino Médio do Centro Educacional Junqueira, situado na cidade de Morro Agudo, estado de São Paulo, as interrelações entre Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade (CTS) e as demais dimensões centrais para a tomada de posição, bem como as possibilidades de aprendizagem promovidas pela WebQuest proposta puderam ser compreendidos para além do contexto investigado. Para a avaliação da proposta didática foi considerada toda a produção textual dos estudantes para a resolução do problema (questionários; relatórios; apresentação em power point), que compreendia as alternativas encontradas para o controle de S. frugiperda em culturas de milho (métodos mecânicos, biológicos e químicos), com vistas à meta de produção de milho almejada por uma empresa fictícia. Por meio da análise de conteúdo do corpus da pesquisa foi possível verificar que os estudantes, divididos em 3 grupos, buscaram resolver a tarefa que era de natureza analítica, científica e de julgamento.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-05-07Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:52:38Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 lopes_nc_me_bauru.pdf: 1260195 bytes, checksum: b39180f70335c6ff96ea97c5c7feaadd (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Qual o potencial formativo dos debates sobre questões sociocientíficas no ensino de ciências segundo uma perspectiva crítica da sociedade? Como podemos discutir a formação dos sujeitos envolvidos em discussões nas quais interagem ciência, tecnologia, sociedade e ambiente? Para lançar luz a estas perguntas e a outras que surgiram no decorrer deste trabalho, acompanhamos uma turma de alunos do segundo ano do ensino médio, junto à professora de física desta turma, com a finalidade de mapear e analisar os aspectos da formação científica destes sujeitos a qual, a partir das teorias de Theodor Adorno, pudemos interpretar e discutir segundo ponto de vista da semiformação. Com este objetivo, instauramos na sala de aula um ambiente de discussões sobre a produção e a distribuição de energia elétrica e suas relações com o desenvolvimento humano, em uma perspectiva que articulou ciência, tecnologia, sociedade e ambiente (CTSA). Assim, foi possível elaborar e concretizar na escola um minicurso sob o título Energia e Desenvolvimento Humano, a partir do qual, pudemos preparar uma situação formativa no ensino de ciências, que objetivou a discursividade, a leitura crítica e os debates na sala de aula. Procedemos esta investigação com entrevistas semiestruturadas com os alunos e a professora, a fim de interpretar seus discursos sobre o assunto abordado. Estas entrevistas foram analisadas de acordo com análise de discurso segundo os pressupostos de Pêcheux e que são difundidos no Brasil por Eni P. Orlandi. A escolha deste aporte teórico para as discussões e anállises nos possibilitou compreender e discutir os elementos destes discursos que nos levam a repensar os processos formativos no ensino de ciências. Por fim, apontamos tanto as limitações deste tipo de abordagem, bem como o potencial formativo a ser... / What is the formative potential of discussions on socioscientific issues in science education according to a critical perspective of society? How can we discuss the person's formation involved in discussions which interact with science, technology, society and environment? To launch light on these questions and others that arose in the course of this work, we have accompanied a group of students the second year of high school, next to physics teacher of this class, with the aim of mappingand analyzing aspects of scientific education of these subjects which, from Theodor Adorno's theories, we could interpret and discuss second view point of semi-formation. With this aim, we introduced in the classroom and environment for discussions about the production and distribution of electric energy and its relationship to human development in perspective which articulated science, technology, society and environment (STSE). Thus, was possible to develop and to concretize a short course in school under the title Energy and Human Development, from which we could prepare a formative situation in science education, which aimed to discourse, critical reading and discussions in the classroom. We proceed this research with semi-structured interviews with students and the teacher in order to interpret their discourse on the theme. These interviews were analyzed through to theory of discourse analysis according to the assumptions and are Pêcheux distributed in Brazil by Eni P. Orlandi. The choice of this theoretical reference for discussions and analysis enabled us to understand and discuss the elements of these discourses that led us to rethink the formative processes in science teaching. Finally, we point out the limitations this approach and the formative potential to be glimpsed from the discussions initiated in class and to discuss the involvement and the possible influences of students in decisions controversies involving science, technology and society

L’importance que prend aujourd’hui l’expertise scientifique et technique dans la prise de décisions politiques questionne à la fois la figure du scientifique et celle du citoyen. Comment apprendre à participer à la prise de décisions politiques en mobilisant des expertises scientifiques ? Dans ce cadre, l’enseignement des sciences et des techniques est critiqué car il s’occupe davantage de la « science faite » (les faits scientifiques) que de la science « en action » (une activité sociale de construction de faits). Ce travail de thèse s’inscrit dans les courants de recherche SSI (Socioscientific Issues) et QSV (Questions socialement vives) dont l’ambition est d’éduquer le citoyen à « négocier » avec le développement contemporain des technosciences. L’objectif de ce travail est d’étudier quelques conditions d’intégration de la science en action dans les pratiques effectives d’enseignement, en s’intéressant à la manière dont deux enseignants de Physique enseignent l’énergie, qui est un savoir stabilisé, et le changement climatique, qui est controversé. Cette analyse se structure autour de la théorie de l’action conjointe en didactique (TACD), qui est complétée par l’analyse communicationnelle et des jeux de langage, qui permet de décrire l’action des enseignants en classe. Cette thèse propose par conséquent une description de séances d’enseignement sur des savoirs au statut contrasté et compare les épistémologies pratiques des enseignants (intrication de théories plus ou moins implicites sur l’enseignement / apprentissage, sur les savoirs et sur la science, sur l’éducation) conçues comme des déterminants de l’action conjointe. L’intérêt de ce travail consiste à documenter les pratiques effectives d’enseignants de la Physique sur des thèmes peu abordés. Ce travail propose en outre d’intégrer une dimension éducative à l’épistémologie pratique et de caractériser les savoirs enseignés à l’aide d’une description des jeux de langage. / The importance that takes the scientific and technical expertise in policy decisions questions both the figure of the scientific and the citizen. How can we learn to participate in the political decision-making by mobilizing scientific expertise ? In this context the teachnig of science and technology is criticized because it deals more wit "science made" (scientific facts) than science in "action" (a social construction of facts). The aim of this work is to investigate some conditions for integrating science "in action" in the actual practice of teaching, focusing on how two physics teachers teach energy, which is a stabilized content knowledege and climate change, which is a sociocontroversial issue.This analysis is structured around the Joint Action Theory in Didactic (JATD), supplemented by a communicative approach and an analysis of the 'language games".

Diskussioner om användandet av embryonala stamceller är exempel på ett område där naturvetenskapliga teorier möter en diskussion i samhällshällsdebatten. Värderingar med t ex etiska utgångspunkter påverkar hur naturvetenskaplig forskning bedrivs och hur resultaten från denna forskning tillämpas. När sådana frågor, samhällsfrågor med naturvetenskapligt innehåll, SNI (socioscientific issues, SSI), tas upp i undervisningen är det angeläget att belysa att det i samhällsdebatten förekommer en diskussion där företrädare för ståndpunkter för fram olika argument i frågan. Ett sätt att möta detta behov är att designa en undervisningssekvens som innehåller en rollspelsdiskussion kring en dagordning. Ytterligare bidrag till utvecklingen av argument kan användandet av skrivramar ge. I denna undersökning har ett levande rollspel om embryonala stamceller designats, och några av komponenterna i denna undervisningssekvens har undersökts i en designbaserad studie vid fyra gymnasieskolor. Ett analysverktyg har satts samman av befintliga analysverktyg ur forskningslitteraturen med en del med vars hjälp man kan studera argumentstruktur baserat på Toulmins argument patterns (T), en annan del som tar fasta på inslaget av specifika biologiska kunskaper (K) och en tredje del som belyser den epistemiska nivån (E). TKE- analys av argument kan ge ett underlag som kan användas till att belysa betydelsen av hur undervisningen i SSI läggs upp för elevernas möjligheter att utveckla naturvetenskapliga argument av hög kvalitet. Med analysverktyget TKE kan man se hur olika delar av en undervisningssekvens påverkar utvecklingen av argumentens kvalitet. Eftersom de tre delarna av TKE innehåller olika kvalitativt beskrivna och rangordningsbara nivåer så är det möjligt att koda argumentens kvalitet och därefter genomföra en hypotesprövning. Vid en sådan hypotesprövning bör man beakta att de kodade resultaten är parade ordinaldata och att hypotesprövning kan ske med Wilcoxons teckenrangtest. Genom analys av argument med analysverktyget TKE kan man belysa kvaliteter på olika nivåer hos argument. De kvaliteter som syns i TKE-analys av argument är också kvaliteter som ger belägg vid bedömning enligt skolverkets kunskapskrav aspekt fyra för biologikurserna i gymnasieskolan. TKE - analys visar i att argumentens kvalitet är god efter förberedelserna med skrivramarna som stöd. Rollspelsdiskussioner med konsensuskrav verkar påverka argumentens kvalitet i kvalitetsklassen E men i övrigt kan det inte påvisas att rollspelsdiskussionen bidrar till att argumenten av högre kvalitet kan uttryckas. Men argumentens kvalitet kan förbättras signifikant genom aktiviteter efter rollspelsdiskussionen som att man efter denna erbjuder skriftlig återkoppling på skrivna argument. / Discussions about the use of embryonic stem cells is an example of a socioscientific issue (SSI) where the use of scientific progresses meets the social debate where values with for example ethic points of view affect the discussion. When such topics, socioscientific issues, are included in educational instructions, is it important to illustrate that a discussion takes place in the social debate where arguments based on different points of view are presented. One way to meet this need is to design a teaching sequence, which contains a live role play with a discussion, where students are given the opportunity to exchange arguments with scientific grounds and to listen to others. The use of writing frames is a further contribution to the development of argumentation instruction for an SSI. In this study, a live role play is designed on the socioscientific issue embryonic stem cells. Parts of these teaching sequences have been analyzed in a design based study in four upper secondary schools. An analysis tool has been developed based on the didactic literature with one part that shows the structure of arguments based on Toulmin’s argument patterns (T), a second part that focus on the specific biology knowledge (K) and a third part that makes it possible to analyze the epistemic level (E) of the argument. TKE-analysis could be useful when studying the quality of arguments to show the importance of how instructions for teaching in SSI are structured in order to give the students opportunity to develop scientific arguments of high quality.  When analyzing arguments with TKE it is possible to see how different parts of teaching sequences are affecting the development of the quality of arguments with a focus on the structural and conceptual qualities. Since it is possible to rank the quality levels of the three parts of TKE it is possible to test hypotheses. In such a hypothesis-testing it is important to notice that the results from the TKE analysis are paired ordinal data and that hypothesis-testing could be done with Wilcoxon’s sign rank test. By using TKE–analysis it is possible to get information about the quality of arguments of different levels. The qualities of arguments that are illustrated in TKE-analysis are qualities that also are important in assessment with the grade criteria aspect four for the scientific courses from the Swedish national agency for education. TKE-analyses of shows that the qualities of arguments are good after the arguments are prepared supported by the writing frames. The role play discussion affects only the epistemic level of arguments only in the consensus discussion. In the other quality categories, T and K there were no significant increase of the argument quality after the role play discussions. But according to TKE-analysis, the quality of arguments could be increased significantly by offering activities after the role play discussion such as written feed back on written arguments.

This dissertation is an empirical study of the scientific literacy of 28 young adults (aged 18-26 years) in the context of their decision making about the health risks of mobile phones. The issue of possible health effects is one of a number of socioscientific issues now confronting adults in the 'knowledge/risk' society where scientific knowledge plays an increasingly significant role in people's lives. The focus of interest is the young people's responses to the uncertain science of 'science in the making' (Latour, 1987) and their positioning of this scientific knowledge in their risk assessments. The study is based on an interactive model of the public understanding of science and applies a critical realist and moderate social constructionist methodology. Data construction included focus groups and semi-structured individual interviews. The stimulus for discussion in the focus groups was a recent television news report presenting contradictory scientific research findings about whether mobile phones pose significant health risks. In the individual interviews understanding of the nature of science and risk judgments were explored. Data analysis involved a coding of the discourse in terms of themes and issues and interpretation of these in terms of the theoretical framework of the thesis. A major finding was that these young people interpreted the uncertainty of the scientific knowledge mainly in social terms and with limited understanding of the role of theory in interpreting data. They talked spontaneously of risk but did not draw on scientific knowledge or risk estimates in their judgment about mobile phone safety. Findings have important implications for science education and suggest a broadened conception of scientific literacy which includes critical dimensions and risk literacy. It is argued that this functional scientific literacy is essential for effective citizenship in contemporary society.

In this thesis the focus is on upper secondary school students’ meaning-making in sustainability in science civic education. The aim is to study how meaning is created, if/how natural science is used and how democratic participation is constructed in students’ group discussions. The thesis also aims to create an awareness of the role science has in both the creation of meaning and the construction of democratic participation. The study is based on audio-recorded group discussions arising from two different sustainability tasks. Discursive psychology is used as an analytical framework, through the concepts of interpretative repertoires, ideological dilemmas and subject positions. The students use different interpretative repertoires that draw on different conceptions of the “world” (discourses) in their meaning-making. These different conceptions create ideological dilemmas that recur several times during the discussions and are therefore negotiated in different ways. The students then use strategies where these dilemmas are solved in a relatively simple manner. They construct the sustainability issue they discuss so that their ways to live and act/not act are portrayed as acceptable in the current situation. The students use their knowledge in and about science in their meaning-making. Science is used to make the "world" more understandable and raise questions; to evaluate, decide and act; to give authority to arguments; and to solve societal problems. The students’ science-making process contains various kinds of use of scientific knowledge, for example, clarify the conditions, identify consequences, scrutinize information, compare, assess, evaluate and use scientific methods. The discussions increase the students’ experience of using scientific knowledge and which functions scientific knowledge can have. The students construct democratic participation in various ways: trust in science and technology are expressed and awareness of what is considered as actions that are “good” for the environment; different perspectives are expressed and ideological dilemmas discussed; students use their scientific knowledge in socioscientific reasoning to create a deeper understanding of the issues discussed; scientific knowledge is also used for evaluating actions in relation to sustainability issues. However, the students see themselves having a major responsibility to act “good”, but without power to influence the development of society as a whole. The students have two projects going on during their discussions: to discuss and learn about the sustainability issue and make their own existence acceptable.

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