Socioscientific Issues in Science Education: The Case of Turkey.

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to identify the foci and results of studies on socioscientific issues (SSI) conducted in Turkey. Additionally, the study aimed to compare the results of this study with ones conducted internationally. For this aim, a literary review of empirical studies related to SSI conducted in Turkey was carried out. Four criteria were used to identify the research studies included in this review: studies which are contemporary (2002-2012), were conducted in Turkey (sampling Turkish populations), which focus on SSI in science education, and which used first-hand data gathered through empirical investigations. Related databases were searched using "SSI and Turkey" and "SSI and Turkish" keywords in both English and Turkish. The search resulted in 13 empirical research articles and 17 Master's and Doctoral theses. After the initial review of the studies based on the established criteria, 11 articles and 13 theses were identified for inclusion in this review. The results showed that SSI related studies conducted in Turkey, similar to international studies, have two roles. While the aim was to teach SSI in some studies, in other studies, SSI were used as a context to reach other broader, science education related aims. Studies mostly focused on the knowledge of pre-service science teachers regarding various SSI, the self-efficacy beliefs of teaching and the informal reasoning ski Us in the context of SSI. The majority of the studies were master's theses. Another important point that needs to be paid attention to is that SSI related studies in Turkey tended to employ quantitative methods while very few studies utilized in-depth qualitative methods.KeywordsSocioscientific Issues, Literature Review, Turkey, Teacher Education, Science Education.Science and society reciprocally influence each other. While societal needs drive science, society is influenced by science in many respects as well (Sadler & Zeidler, 2005b). With the rapid advancement of science, many science-related, societal dilemmas appear, such as whether to use nuclear power. Such complex, open-ended, controversial and uncertain issues involving both science and society are called SSI (Eastwood, Sadler, Zeidler, Lewis, Amiri, & Applebaum, 2012; Fleming, 1986a, 1986b; Kolsto, 2001; Patronis, Potari, & Spiliotopoulou, 1999; Sadler, 2004; Sadler & Zeidler, 2005a; Topcu, Yilmaz-Tuzun, & Sadler, 2011; Zeidler, Walker, Ackett, & Simmons, 2002). Prominent science education organizations (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1990; Ministry of National Education in Turkey [MONE], 2013; National Research Council, 1996; and Queensland School Curriculum Council, 2001) emphasized that the argumentation, analysis and knowledge-based decision making skills of students regarding SSI need to be improved because these skills are important components of scientific literacy. Many studies utilizing SSI report that such contexts improve a student's conceptual understanding (Klosterman & Sadler, 2010), attract their interest (Albe, 2008; Zeidler, Sadler, Applebaum, & Callahan, 2009), provide additional motivation for learning (Parchmann, Grasel, Baer, Nentwig, Demuth, & Ralle, 2006), and improve their epistemological development (Zeidler et al., 2009) and attitudes towards science (Lee & Erdogan, 2007). Starting from 2013, SSI have been specifically included in the Science and Technology curriculum by the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MONE, 2013). This new emphasis on SSI in the curriculum necessitates understanding what has been done by science education researchers in Turkey with respect to SSI and how this research compares with ones conducted internationally. Considering that the context of these studies has its own sociocultural structure and belief system and deals with SSI regarding these characteristics, a national-level analysis will help to better understand the teaching and learning of SSI in the context of Turkey. …