STS relationships in basic science education II: researching the world problems

Abstract

This paper presents an educational proposal oriented to develop a part of the science curriculum of 4th year of Secondary Education (15-16 years of age), by means of an analysis of some actual World’s problems. Its design is based on the following hypotheses: 1) World’s problems use to be familiar and accessible to students and it encourages the students’ interest to them; 2) they have a multidisciplinary character that allow to integrate several contents in a same context; 3) they allow to value the Science-Technology-Society (STS) interactions that favour a adequately and realist vision of them; 4) they favour the students’ critic and responsible thinking; and 5) they are a ideal context to perform the inquiry-based science education. The implementation phases of the proposal, the instruments of evaluation and the more significant results of the study are described. The (qualitative) evaluation of the proposal indicates that if the science education is performed since this perspective, it contribute to the development of basic competences demanded by the new European educational setting.