An STS case study about students' decision making on the waste issue

Koos Kortland

155 citations0/0 files storedScience Education

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Science Education and Pedagogy Environmental and sustainability education Environmental Education and Sustainability

Abstract

The physical science curriculum in Dutch junior secondary education in operation since 1993 includes dealing with environmental issues in the classroom—be it in the context of decision making by students or not. A small-scale research and development project with the aim of providing an empirical base for the required educational innovations started midway 1990 as a cooperative effort of the Institute for Curriculum Development (SLO) and the Centre for Science and Mathematics Education (CDβ). This article presents a case study about students' decision making on the waste issue in the physical science curriculum. A teaching unit limiting the waste issue to household packaging waste was developed and trialed in grade 8 middle ability classes with students aged 13–14. The students' existing and developing decision making ability has been assessed against the background of a normative model of the decision making process, with evaluating alternatives on relevant criteria at its core. The research connected to the classroom trials shows that before teaching the unit students are able to evaluate alternatives on one (or more nonconflicting) criteria. After teaching the unit the students argumentations about a decision making situation have improved as far as validity and clarity of the criteria used for evaluating alternatives is concerned, but have remained stable with respect to the limited range of criteria used. After an exploration of the reasons for these disappointing learning effects, the article ends with some reflections on the way in which a new version of the unit might be more effective in developing the students' existing decision making ability. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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References

1959The Science of "Muddling Through"1978Decision making: A psychological analysis of conflict, choice, and commitment 1995STS education: international perspectives on reform 1988Development and Dilemmas in Science Education.1972Field Research on Complex Decision-Making Processes – The Phase Theorem 1992Decision Research: A Field Guide 1995“Developmental research” as a way to an empirically based “didactical structure” of science 1980Education, Democracy and Discussion.

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2011Nature of Science and Decision-Making 2001Tomada de decisão para ação social responsável no ensino de ciências 2007The Role of Moral Reasoning in Argumentation: Conscience, Character, and Care 2010College students' scientific epistemological views and thinking patterns in socioscientific decision making 2008Lakatos’ Scientific Research Programmes as a Framework for Analysing Informal Argumentation about Socio‐scientific Issues 2009

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