Discussing Socioscientific Controversies in Primary and Secondary Education: Potentials and Constraints in Science Lessons

This chapter presents the results of an investigation conducted with the objective of understanding the socioscientific controversies approach in science teaching from the perspective of curricular integration, against the background of the new social and environmental challenges currently faced by science education. The research was conducted as a case study, and the data presented here were collected using questionnaires and interviews and were analyzed using the discursive text analysis method. The approach is predominantly qualitative and descriptive. The results of these analyses indicate the potential of the socioscientific controversies approach combined with integrated projects, fostering debate between different subject areas in discussions of subjects that are considered controversial