Socio-scientific issues in primary schools

Socio-scientific issues (SSIs) are real-life problems which have a scientific basis yet require the consideration of social concerns. Using SSIs has been advocated as an approach to engage secondary-school students with science and this study aimed to explore the potential of such an approach in the primary-school classroom. The experiences and attitudes of twenty Auckland primary-school teachers towards using real-life issues in their classroom were investigated, and several pedagogical considerations identified that teachers need to contemplate to successfully implement an SSIs approach with younger children.