The Complexity of Scientific Knowledge on Socioscientific Issues: A Study of Students’ Decision Making on Local Issues in Western Canada

The Complexity of Scientific Knowledge on Socioscientific Issues: A Study of Students’ Decision Making on Local Issues in Western Canada

The role of scientific knowledge in one’s decision making has been a critical question in scientific literacy for citizenship in society. This study looks into the challenges of decision making in socioscientific and environmental issues and how scientific evidences and data are perceived in the complexity of the issues. 5th year university students in western Canada participated in the discussion of local environmental issues for future actions. Distrust toward scientific evidence and uncertainty of future consequences of their decision making were evident in students’ discussions. This undermined the role of scientific knowledge in decision making on complex socioscientific issues. Scientific knowledge was not sufficient to solve the local socioscientific issues and often complexly intertwined with other domains of knowledge. This raises some concerns about the current implementation of science curriculum which focuses on the acquisition of scientific knowledge as scientific literacy.