What is Socioscientific Issues

Argumentation has received a significant amount of attention from the science education community. To implement this important teaching method and scientific practice in science classrooms, curriculum reforms have recommended incorporating socioscientific issues. Research indicates that students have difficulty organizing information about complex socioscientific issues; students also tend to ignore counterclaims and only use evidence that supports their own views. Therefore, alternative teaching strategies should be used to overcome this barrier. This chapter advocates for blending creative drama and computer-supported collaborative learning in the context of socioscientific argumentation; it concludes with an instructional sequence for successful decision making about these issues.