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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 19, Issue 1, Article 5 (Jun., 2018) |
Use of socio-scientific issues in order to improve critical thinking competences
Jordi SOLBES*, Nidia TORRES, and Manel TRAVER*
Universitat de Valencia*
Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, COLOMBIA
*Corresponding Author’s Email: nidia.torres@uptc.edu.co
Received 18 Nov., 2017
Revised 25 Jun., 2018
This article analyzes the implications of the use of socio-scientific issues (SSI) in a series of critical thinking competences. For this, a didactic intervention with 3 SSIs is carried out, developed during 16 weeks, in which there were 56 students who participated in a program of education in the sciences. A quasi-experimental design was used and there is a comparison of the pre-test and post-test to describe the influence of the intervention. The test information was assessed from an analysis qualitative and quantitative that compares the type of participant responses once the intervention. The study allows us to see the incidence of the SSIs in aspects, such as the acknowledgement of science as a social activity, the questioning of information, the multi-dimensional approach to the sciences, and the making of ethical judgments and fundamental decisions. In this way, this research demonstrates how the SSis for assuming scientific issues with social implications, are a possibility to motivate and promote the development of critical thinking in students of teacher training in Natural Sciences
Keywords: competences, socio-scientific issues, scientific education, critical thinking.
