Values and Knowledge Education as a process for working with socio-scientific issues in science classrooms

There are so many current issues in the world today that could be linked to what is being taught in science classrooms. At times, teachers have based whole units of work around a world event and related issues or use such events as an engaging way into learning. Often presented as socio-scientific issues (SSIs), such topics can be daunting to teach. Dr. Karen Marangio and Dr. Rebecca Cooper at Monash University have completed research with a group of pre-service science teachers that explores one way (Values and Knowledge Education, VaKE) that SSIs can be taught in the classroom. Their study considered the secondary science PSTs views on the ways the VaKE experience challenged their assumptions about teaching science in schools, and the extent to which the PSTs felt comfortable to use VaKE as a teaching strategy in their future teaching of science. This article gives an overview of their VaKE research with PSTs, and Danielle Dalton, a current and experienced science teacher, considers the potential of taking VaKE into the science classroom.