ABSTRACT

Learning democratic participation as future citizens is an important goal for science education for all students. To take part in debates and decision-making involving socioscientific issues, such as sustainability, students need to become aware of different positions and dilemmas regarding such issues. This study seeks to understand how democratic participation is constructed by 45 student participants aged 16 years, for whom science is not the main course of study. Students worked in small groups on tasks that involved discussion of two different socioscientific issues. The analysis of student discourse used a theoretical perspective from discursive psychology, and shows how students deal with ideological dilemmas and resolve different positions within their discussions. Five ‘interpretative repertoires’ were identified from student talk illustrating the dilemmas occurring in the specific SSIs and also the function of science within the discussion. Through identifying interpretative repertoires used by the students, the stances they take and the function of science in their discussions, the study sheds light on how democratic participation can be learnt in a science education context.

摘要

作为未来公民学习民主参与是所有学生科学教育的重要目标。为了参与涉及社会科学问题（如可持续性）的辩论和决策，学生需要意识到关于这些问题的不同立场和困境。本研究旨在了解 45 名 16 岁学生参与者如何构建民主参与，对他们来说，科学不是主要学习课程。学生以小组形式完成涉及两个不同社会科学问题的讨论的任务。对学生话语的分析运用了话语心理学的理论视角，展示了学生如何处理意识形态困境并解决讨论中的不同立场。从学生谈话中确定了五个“解释性曲目”，说明了特定 SSI 中发生的困境以及科学在讨论中的作用。通过确定学生使用的解释性曲目、他们采取的立场以及科学在讨论中的作用，该研究阐明了如何在科学教育环境中学习民主参与。