Socio-Scientific Issues

This week I would like to share a recent article entitled, “Development of Attitude Assessment Instruments Towards SocioScientific Issues in Chemistry Learning” by Suparman, Rohaeti and Wening (2022). I share this article for several reasons. First, I think we all appreciate articles which share turnkey data collection instruments, of which this article does in the appendix in the form of a well validated instrument, which we can slightly modify to align with each of our academic areas. Secondly, the authors remind us of the literature on dispositions in learning, i.e., students' attitudes are a contributing factor on learning, retaining and applying conceptual frameworks:

• “Attitudes can influence the culture of a group and can develop according to habits and circumstances (Roosevelt, 2008).”

• “Students' attitudes are essential in predicting final achievement in general chemistry (Xu & Lewis, 2011).”

Finally, although this study was offered in a higher ed chemistry course, I believe it can be generalized in many of our courses.

The abstract highlights that “a socio-scientific issue is one of the learning techniques used today, which uses various scientific sources to make students think scientifically to conduct a dialogue and discuss solving a problem. Various problems in socio-scientific are controversial, requiring reasoning, and ethical evaluation in the decision-making process. A conflict between chemical reason and students' social point of view will cause students' different assessments and attitudes towards the socio-scientific issue. This study focuses on the instrument's validity with the factor analysis technique to assess attitudes towards the socio-scientific issue in chemistry learning. Analysis found five factors in the tool: anxiety, interests, likes, benefits, confidence, validity, and reliability. The total reliability coefficient is .853.”

The authors operationalize socio-scientific issues as “open problems with no clear solution; they may have some plausible explanations. Socio-scientific problems sometimes become global problems, such as environmental crises. These solutions can be informed by scientific principles, theory, and data, but scientific judgment cannot determine them. The problems and potential actions associated with them are influenced by various social factors, including political, economic, and ethical (Sadler, 2011).”

From the paper Appendix, “Socio-Scientific Issue Items”

1. I feel alienated from studying chemistry.

2. I love hearing other people's opinions.

3. I'm happy to hear the teacher's explanation.

4. The social issues discussed are fascinating.

5. Chemistry is close to everyday life.

6. The problem discussed is something we often encounter.

7. Discussion trains my mind to speak in public.

8. Chemistry material is easier to understand.

9. The discussion material made me read many learning resources.

10. A collective discussion made me more interested in chemistry.

11. Discussing with friends is the most fun thing.

12. Finding out about new things in chemistry is very interesting.

13. I hesitate to express my opinion about chemistry.

14. I feel unable to answer a friend's question during a discussion.

15. I do not understand the problems discussed in class.

16. My friends laugh at me if I cannot answer during the discussion.

17. I am afraid of the low chemistry score.

References

Suparman, A. R., Rohaeti, E., & Wening, S.(2022). Development of attitude assessment instruments towards socioscientific issues in chemistry learning. European Journal of Educational Research, 11(4), 1947-1958. https://doi.org/10.12973/eujer.11.4.1947 .