Reasoning on Controversial Science Issues in Science Education and Science Communication

Autor/inn/en	Beniermann, Anna; Mecklenburg, Laurens; Upmeier zu Belzen, Annette
Titel	Reasoning on Controversial Science Issues in Science Education and Science Communication
Quelle	In: Education Sciences, 11 (2021), Artikel 522 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Beniermann, Anna) ORCID (Upmeier zu Belzen, Annette)
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2227-7102
Schlagwörter	Science and Society; Science Education; Scientific Principles; Persuasive Discourse; Evidence; Thinking Skills; Beliefs; Religious Factors; Controversial Issues (Course Content); Public Opinion; Informal Education; Adolescents; Adults; Foreign Countries; Germany + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung; Persuasion; Persuasive Kommunikation; Evidenz; Denkfähigkeit; Belief; Glaube; Controversial issues; Kontroverse; Öffentliche Meinung; Informelle Bildung; Nichtformale Bildung; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Ausland; Deutschland
Abstract	The ability to make evidence-based decisions, and hence to reason on questions concerning scientific and societal aspects, is a crucial goal in science education and science communication. However, science denial poses a constant challenge for society and education. "Controversial science issues" (CSI) encompass scientific knowledge rejected by the public as well as "socioscientific issues," i.e., societal issues grounded in science that are frequently applied to science education. Generating evidence-based justifications for claims is central in scientific and informal reasoning. This study aims to describe attitudes and their justifications within the argumentations of a random online sample (N = 398) when reasoning informally on selected CSI. Following a deductive-inductive approach and qualitative content analysis of written open-ended answers, we identified five types of justifications based on a fine-grained category system. The results suggest a topic-specificity of justifications referring to specific scientific data, while justifications appealing to authorities tend to be common across topics. Subjective, and therefore normative, justifications were slightly related to conspiracy ideation and a general rejection of the scientific consensus. The category system could be applied to other CSI topics to help clarify the relation between scientific and informal reasoning in science education and communication. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	MDPI AG. Klybeckstrasse 64, 4057 Basel, Switzerland. e-mail: education@mdpi.com; e-mail: indexing@mdpi.com; Web site: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/education
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01