Abstract—The pedagogical use of Socioscientific Issues (SSI)
in formal education has increased in the last decade, specifically
as a way to improve STEM teaching processes and results.
However, several theoretical interpretations coexist about SSI
in formal education, thus posing a challenge to developing
knowledge from practice. An examination of recent papers was
conducted to elicit the conceptualizations of SSI in science
education research according to three theoretical dimensions of
the curriculum: purpose, contents, and teaching and learning
strategies. Results show that as for purpose, SSI is currently
conceptualized as citizenship education, and scientific literacy
or competence. As for contents, SSI is related both to knowledge
of science and knowledge about science, as well as some skills
such as argumentation. Finally, SSI is associated to pedagogical
strategies, mainly Inquiry-Based Learning; and to pedagogical
techniques such as dilemmas and group discussions. This
conceptualization sets up foundations for the design and
evaluation of innovative SSI educational practices. It shall also
help to promote new lines of research that establish connections
among practical applications of SSI in different subjects,
cultural contexts, and educational systems.
Index Terms—Educational innovation, formal education,
STEM, literature review, science education, socioscientific
issues, SSI.
The authors are with Universitat de Barcelona, College of Education,
Department of Didactics and Educational Organization, Spain (e-mail:
silvia.alcaraz@ub.edu, mbarajas@ub.edu).
Cite: S. Alcaraz-Dominguez and M. Barajas, "Conceptualization of Socioscientific Issues in Educational Practice from a Review of Research in Science Education," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 297-302, 2021.
Copyright © 2021 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).