Laurence Simonneaux

L'ARGUMENTATION DANS LES DEBATS EN CLASSE SUR UNE TECHNOSCIENCE CONTROVERSÉE

Les echanges langagiers sont necessairement inscrits dans un contexte determine. Ici nous abordons l’argumentation dans les debats en classe sur des questions socialement vives. Apres avoir defini ce que nous entendons par « questions socialement vives » dont font partie les biotechnologies a vocation agricole, nous illustrons notre propos par l’analyse d’une etude de cas portant sur la comparaison de deux situations-debats sur une question socialement vive : une transgenese animale. L’analyse se fait a des niveaux de plus en plus fins, de l’analyse macroscopique des debats dans leur entier a l’analyse de l’argumentation dans la langue a partir d’extraits, en passant par l’analyse microscopique d’episodes argumentatifs.

Students' Perception of Risk About Nanotechnology After an SAQ Teaching Strategy

We experimented with teaching nanotechnology in high school within the perspective of citizenship education in science by involving experts in nanotechnology, education, ethics and philosophy. After training, the students debated a Socially Acute Question (SAQ) that they elaborated during the various phases of instruction. The field of SAQs represents a French orientation for the teaching of SocioScientific Issues. We analyzed the interactions of students in the debate to determine their risk perception on nanotechnology. We compared and put their arguments into perspective using various analytical frameworks. We observed two contrasting argumentative tendencies: one reflecting a positivist view that involved an individualistic use of nanotechnology and science and one carrying a critical and humanistic vision of the use of nanotechnology and science.

Questions Socialement Vives and Socio-scientific Issues: New Trends of Research to Meet the Training Needs of Postmodern Society

At a time when numerous crises are undermining the status of (techno-) science, the teaching of Questions Socialement Vives (Socially Acute Questions, or SAQs) has an important role in preparing students for the postmodern risk society. The field of SAQs represents a French orientation for the teaching of socio-scientific issues (SSIs). Teaching about SAQs raises the question of the interdependence of the cognitive, affective and judgemental (axiological) components of education and training. It is particularly challenging for teachers because the content (often non-stabilised and contested) transcends traditional disciplinary borders to include professional and social knowledge. After identifying similarities between SAQs and SSIs, this chapter presents details of an SAQ approach. Then it develops the main components related to the teaching of socio-scientific questions into a single scheme. This scheme could be used by researchers to help them visualise the complexity of the orientations and to position their own work within this area. The didactics of SAQs/SSIs can have a variety of objectives that usually include scientific literacy although in some cases political literacy is also a goal. Central to this latter goal is an analysis of patterns or forms of political and economic governance, decision-making and action (activism) in specific contexts. The different epistemological postures that can influence the teaching strategies of these questions are presented, and a provisional grid to compare or assess the socio-scientific reasoning when discussing SAQs is developed.

Language constraints in producing prefiguration posters for a scientific exhibition

The museographic transposition of scientific knowledge leads notably to the preparation of exhibition posters. This is a delicate operation, on account of the constraints imposed by space, language, concepts and the text. These difficulties are even greater in the case of bovine reproduction biotechnologies, such as cloning, where knowledge is not yet stable. This paper deals with the choices made during the phase of museographic transposition. First of all, based on an epistemological approach, a historical analysis of knowledge-building underpins the choice of information to be presented. Language is then selected according to the linguistic analysis of a series of articles which popularize science. Finally, the posters are assessed by samples of potential visitors.

Digital technology to support students’ socioscientific reasoning about environmental issues

Scientific expertise and outcomes often give rise to controversy. An educational response that equips students to take part in such discussions is the teaching of socially acute questions (SAQs). With SAQs, the understanding of uncertainty, risk and how knowledge is developed is central. This study explores the way in which students from different disciplines and different continents are brought together via a digital platform to explore SAQs about environmental issues (a green algae outbreak linked to release of fertilisers along the coast of Brittany; the construction of a desalination plant near Melbourne to produce freshwater; and changes in meat consumption on a global scale, with regard to population projections in 2050). We have developed frameworks for looking at the quality of the collective reasoning and at the nature of students’ interactions, so that we can analyse the organisation of the learning communities and the building of collegial expertise. The results show that interdisciplinary discussions, especially on an international scale, foster the understanding of complex situations. In this paper, we discuss the modalities of one didactic scenario to enhance critical thinking and collaborative work, and to provide space for learners to support argumentation.

From Promoting the Techno-sciences to Activism – A Variety of Objectives Involved in the Teaching of SSIs

The educational trend referred to as Socio-Scientific Issues (SSIs) is gradually spreading internationally. It involves decisions in fields of science (and technology) that have controversial impacts on societies (Kolsto SD, Int J Sci Educ 23:877–901, 2001; Sadler TD, Chambers FW, Zeidler DL, Int J Sci Educ 26(4):387–410, 2004; Zeidler DL, Walker K, Ackett W, Simmons M, Sci Educ 27:771–783, 2002). A parallel can be drawn here with the educational school of thought known as ‘Science-Technology-Society’ (STS). However, SSIs are not always introduced into schools in the form of an issue or a controversy; nor are they systematically related to current events. In the literature on the teaching of SSIs we can observe very different objectives. There are many different dimensions to the concept of an SSI. Similarly there is a variation in the extent to which teachers ‘heat up’ or ‘cool down’ these issues.

The reasoned arguments of a group of future biotechnology technicians on a controversial socio-scientific issue: human gene therapy

We tried to determine the reasoning behind the stances taken by a group of 19–21-year-old students on the controversial issue of the feasibility and acceptability of human gene therapy. The students were in training at a biotechnology institute. We organised classroom debates, punctuated by phases of epistemological ‘disturbances’. We used a variety of resources from authentic genetic therapy cases. We also worked on the reconsideration of Crick’s model on the basis of recent results in molecular genetics and genomics. We stimulated critical analysis by presenting texts on the failure of gene therapies. This also encouraged the students to evaluate the empirical evidence, in the light of current molecular biology data that challenges Crick’s dogma. We observed an increase in the intensity of the argumentation. According to Habermas, in all the didactic situations forms of communicative action are used less frequently, whereas forms of strategic action are the most prevalent. However, we found that in the case of the final situation, the students’ discourse was more in keeping with communicative action than in the other situations.

A la croisée des questions socialement vives et du développement durable : étude de la relation alimentation-environnement avec des enseignant(e)s

Cette etude a vise plusieurs objectifs. Elle s’est situee au milieu du parcours de formation initiale d’enseignant(e)s de l’enseignement agricole en Zootechnie, Agronomie et Sciences Economiques et Sociales, apres une initiation a la didactique. Nous avons construit le protocole pour donner du corps a cette initiation et faire experimenter aux enseignant(e)s des conflits cognitifs et socio-cognitifs. Le protocole vise egalement l’illustration du traitement didactique de questions socialement vives sur la relation alimentation-environnement. Il comporte une succession de « scenes » elaboree a priori. Chaque scene correspond a un jeu didactique. Au cours de ce scenario, nous avons cherche a perturber « la continuite du savoir » en menageant des « coups de theâtre ». Les coups de theâtre de ce scenario ne visaient pas une discontinuite du savoir, mais une complexification. Il s’agissait de rendre sensibles les enseignant(e)s a d’autres possibles. Nous souhaitions egalement developper leur questionnement sur la construction des savoirs scientifiques. A l’issue de ce travail, les enseignant(e)s interrogent leurs a priori sur les comportements a favoriser pour limiter les impacts negatifs de l’alimentation sur l’environnement. Ils questionnent la polemique scientifique soulevee, la legitimite de choisir differentes methodologies dans la construction des savoirs. Ils envisagent entre autres la mise en place de jeux didactiques perturbateurs avec leurs eleves pour favoriser leur rationalite critique.

Epistemological Thought and Role-Playing: Impact on Pre-Service Teachers’ Opinions on Mobile Phone Risks

The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the changes in opinion of a group of future teachers on the danger of mobile telephones. The opinions were determined before and after epistemological work and role-playing in a form of a legal suit. This activity was part of pre-service teachers’ initial training in a one-week module dedicated to prepare them to lead debates on controversial scientific issues. The fifteen participants were future physical science and biology teachers. A comparison of pre- and post-test evaluations revealed that these pre-service teachers were less sure of the risk involved in using mobile telephones following the activity and that the role-playing affected their epistemological interpretation of the research results.

STEPWISE as a Vehicle for Scientific and Political Educ-action ?

An activist orientation, as it is understood in the ‘STEPWISE’ approach, reveals the limitations of the current society (e.g., world ultraliberalism, capitalism, consumerism). We discuss here STEPWISE foundations for the emancipation of individuals and/or communities. STEPWISE promotes scientific education for students in postures of actors and researchers. Like the Socially Acute Questions (SAQ) approach, in which we identify similarities with the STEPWISE approach, an educational triple orientation is followed: scientific, social and political education.