DECISIONS INVOLVING SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (DISTS)

LEADING SCIENTISTS AND EDUCATORS HAVE STRESSED CRITICAL THINKING PROBLEM SOLVING AS TOP PRIORITIES FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION. A NEGLECTED ASPECT OF THIS BROAD AREA IS THE ABILITY TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS THROUGH LOGICAL HABITS OF THOUGHT RELATING KNOWLEDGE, UNCERTAINTY AND HUMAN VALUES. SUCH SKILLS ARE TAUGHT IN ONLY A FEW SECONDARY SCHOOLS, AND TEACHING/LEARNING MATERIALS FOR THIS AREA ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN THE SCIENCE CURRICULUM. PREVIOUS RESEARCH BY THE PROJECTTEAM HAS DEMONSTRATED ON PERFORMANCE TESTS THAT 7TH AND 8TH GRADE STUDENTS CAN LEARN SUCH SKILLS. THE PROJECT WILL SEEK TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS AND TEACHER WORKSHOPS TO HELP SCIENCE TEACHERS INCORPORATE THESE SKILLS INTO EXISTING SCIENCE UNITS WHICH ADDRESS IMPORTANT PROBLEMS RELATING SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (STS). IN PHASE I A WORKSHOP WILL PREPARE TEACHERS TO IMPLEMENT DECISION STRATEGIES IN THEIR SCIENCE CLASSES, AND IMPLEMENTATION WILLBE EVALUATED DURING THE FOLLOWING SCHOOL SEMESTER. THE IMPORTANCE GIVEN TO DECISION SKILL OBJECTIVES BY SCIENCE TEACHERS, AND THE DEGREE TO WHICH THEY FIT WITHIN EXISTING CURRICULUM, WILL ALSO BE EVALUATED. PHASE II WILL EVALUATE WORKSHOPS, INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND COMPUTER SOFTWARE ON A LARGER SCALE, AND PHASE III WILL PRODUCE AND SELL THEM. IF USE OF THESE MATERIALS IN SCHOOLS INCREASES THE ABILITY OF YOUTH TO MAKE WISE DECISIONS ON CAREER, BUSINESS AND STS ISSUES, THE PROJECT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS OF THE U.S.