Student’s Epistemological Beliefs and their evaluation of Socio-Scientific Issues (SSIs): Review Study

Abstract

In the science education system, Socio-Scientific Issues (SSIs) are developed as a new pedagogy to make students able to engage in discussions related to the social issues having technological associations. These issues demand critical thinking ability and analysis of information from multiple perspectives. Psychologists have argued that student’s Epistemological Beliefs influence their thinking and learning process. Therefore, present study tries to understand the possible relationship between student’s Epistemological Beliefs and their evaluation of SSIs. Popular databases like JSTOR, SCOPUS, ERIC and Google Scholar were used to access the available literature related to the objective of the study. After reviewing current literature, this study concludes that students with sophisticated levels of Epistemological Beliefs deal better with SSIs. These students have developed conceptions related to the Nature of Science (NOS) which facilitates them to evaluate information from multiple perspectives and justify the evidences while dealing with SSIs. Implications of this study for teaching and learning are also discussed.