Socially responsible science as a step towards scientific literacy: Supporting teachers, challenging students

This paper presents the results of research into a nationally funded project, ‘Socially Responsible Science’, in which science teachers developed and implemented ethical dilemma story pedagogy in their own classrooms. The research focused on (i) science teachers’ success in creating a values learning classroom environment and (ii) the impact on student learning, in particular their development of collaborative problem solving, evidence-based decision making, critical thinking and critical reflection. The research methodology consisted of ethnographic participant classroom observations and interviewing as well as the implementation of a specifically designed questionnaire - the Values Learning Environment Survey (VLES) – to obtain measures of students’ perceptions of key aspects of their learning activities. The research results identify key factors shaping teachers’ differential design and implementation of dilemma story pedagogy and students’ differential engagement in values learning