Chinese Journal of Science Education

Abstract

This study investigated the interest, understanding, and implication of STS issues in science teaching, and the strategies, objectives, and barriers of using such issues from a group of elementary science teachers in Taichung City and County area. A total of 231 science teachers responded the questionnaire. The results revealed that: (1) science teachers demonstrated higher interesting, understanding, and implication level in “Disaster prevention”, “Computer and communication”, “Medical and health care” and “Communication and civilization” than other issues; the lowest one was “Policy of science development”; (2) the most frequent sources of STS issues were “internet”, “television”, and “newspaper”; (3) the most frequent method for deciding STS issues was “students proposed first, and then teachers judge and decide”; (4) the most frequent strategies used were “infusion”, and “discussion”; (5) the most illustrated objective of STS teaching was “making connection of daily lives” and “to promote students’ learning motivation”. All these were in agreement with prior literature. STS approach has been widely accepted by the science teachers in Taiwan. However, the barriers such as “short of time to teach” and “lack of professional skill” were predominant and had not changed for decade, which is apparent because the education environment in Taiwan remains the same. In summary, the results from this study can be beneficial to science educators and teachers about the future studies and the way to promote effectiveness of STS teaching.

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