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This essay examines the challenges of science education in the 21st century with regard to social, cultural, economic, political and pedagogical issues impacting and influencing instructional methodology and understanding of the role of science education as it affects individual, social organizational and societal progress and functions. Drawing upon some strong practical, philosophical, and pedagogical-methodological and theoretical ideas and propositions from Hodson, as espoused in his book Looking to the Future: Building a Curriculum for Social Activism, the author essentially responds to this extremely rich scholarly volume in scientific literacy, philosophy, and history by supporting Hodson's advocacy of an action-oriented and issues-based curriculum as the key to renewing and activating scientific literacy to increase students' performance and national competitiveness in the global economy. The author extricates from literature, not only strong rationale for the renewal and transformational of science education in terms of perspective and approach, but also takes a critical approach in examining some of Hodson's contentions regarding strategies in confronting socioscientifc issues as major pathways to the teaching and learning of science. The author examines problems, challenges, and the new opportunities that have emerged and are emerging in contemporary environmental, social, cultural and political contexts for science education to experience transformation in several ways: as a field of study, as an applied body of knowledge, as a way of living and as a competitive tool and strategy important to national goals and posterity.

The focus of this study is the attitudes towards wolves in Sweden among upper secondary students. This socio-scientific issue (SSI) involves many aspects, such as ethical, political and biological aspects, and provides a context to study students' informal argumentation. The different arguments used by the students were analyzed using the framework of the SEE-SEP-model. A questionnaire probing attitudes to the existence of wolves in the neighbourhood was distributed to 352 upper secondary students. 18 students were interviewed in focused group-interviews (in pairs). The results showed that 55% of the students showed a negative attitude towards the existence of wolves in the neighbourhood. The analysis of the different aspects of arguments used by the students in the interviews showed that arguments based on value were more dominant (60%) than arguments based on knowledge(30%), and arguments based on personal experiences (10%).

Since the late 1980's, American media and politicians have produced and participated in a moral panic around the issue of illegal drug use. This panic has generated vivid pictures in the American imagination of drug users as a morally depraved, irresponsible, and willfully criminal underclass. Such images have fueled the "war on drugs," a multi-faceted rhetoric and policy approach to drug use that focuses on incarceration, interdiction, and other criminal justice strategies. The punitive approach of the war on drugs has bled into poverty and disability policy with alarming persistence. The trend has influenced numerous poverty alleviation and disability programs and protections, leaving drug users increasingly isolated and unaided. This comment explores the impact of such changes on the Americans with Disabilities Act 2 (ADA) and two social security policies, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). It questions the wisdom of a punitive response to drug use by examining the alternative model of harm reduction and applying the principles of harm reduction analysis to the exclusion of drug users from poverty alleviation and disability programs. Part I describes recent changes in disability policy, which reflect a decrease in coverage for persons disabled by drug use. Part II describes the context in which these changes occurred, with the war on drugs in full force, and offers critiques of drug war strategy. Part 1I describes the harm reduction model as an alternative to the drug war approach. Part IV examines the impact of drug war policy on the poor, arguing that pushing drug users further into poverty by denying them public assistance will increase drug-related harms. Furthermore, this section suggests that strong social welfare systems can operate to reduce the intersecting harms of poverty and drug use.

There are only a few studies about how primary school students engage in socio-scientific discussions. This study aims to add to this field of research by focusing on how 9–10-year-olds in Sweden and England handle climate change as a complex environmental socio-scientific issue (SSI), within the context of their own lives and in relation to society at large. It focuses on how different interpretative repertoires were used by the students in discussions to legitimise or question their everyday lifestyles. They discussed four possible options that a government might consider to help reduce carbon dioxide production. Six main repertoires were identified: Everyday life, Self-Interest, Environment, Science and Technology, Society and Justice. The Everyday life repertoire was used when students related their discussion to their everyday lifestyles. Science and technology-related solutions were offered to maintain or improve things, but these were sometimes rather unrealistic. Arguments related to environment and health frequently appeared to have a superior status compared to the others. Findings also highlighted how conflicts between the students were actually productive by bringing in several perspectives to negotiate the solutions. These primary school students were, therefore, able to discuss and negotiate a complex real-world SSI. Students positioned themselves as active contributors to society, using their life experiences and limited knowledge to understand the problems that affected their everyday lives. Honing these skills within a school science community of practice could facilitate primary students' engagement with SSIs and empower them as citizens.

The prerequisites for the development of human capital and ensuring social security are created through the institutions of the family and the public education system. It is here that the foundations of moral, mental and physical health of a person and society are laid, a system of universal values is formed, professional orientation takes place, knowledge and skills are acquired. One of the determinants of the development of human capital and ensuring social security is the sustainable and harmonious development of the personnel potential of educational institutions, while a significant place belongs to the motivation of scientific and pedagogical personnel and job satisfaction. This study is aimed at revealing the content of professional motivation of scientific and pedagogical personnel as an important factor of social security. The scientific contribution consists in the fact that job satisfaction is considered as an important socio-psychological phenomenon and a condition for ensuring social security; the factors of job satisfaction are systematized; the main value orientations of a university teacher are determined; the nature of a teacher's professional motivation is revealed and the factors that determine it are characterized. The results of the study are useful to the founders and heads of educational organizations in order to more effectively manage the staff, and in general, the development strategy of institutions

This article focuses on the relationship between practical and cognitive interests in the production of anthropological knowledge. It analyses the links between the projects of directed social transformation in "backward" societies that characterize the program of "development" since the 1920s, and the emergence of a discipline aiming at a scientific understanding of these societies. A reconstruction of the process of autonomization of British social anthropology in Africa during the interwar period thus offers at the same time a genealogy of the uses of anthropology in development. It is argued that, instead of viewing the relationship between anthropology and the colonial administration as an alternative between instrumentalization or independence, it is more fruitful to analyse it as structured by both common interests in producing knowledge about colonized societies and a competition between academic specialists and "practical men". The "professionalization" of social anthropology and its institutionalization as an academic discipline then appears as a process of construction of a monopoly of competence on non-western social phenomena.

During the last years the so called 21st century skills have been emphasized in both policy documents and science education research. The development of these skills among citizens in Europe has been supported by the European Union through different education and research programmes (EU, 2015). This paper analyzes if four aspects (citizenship education (CE), inquiry-based science education (IBSE), responsible research and innovation (RRI) and socio-scientific issues (SSI)) from a theoretical framework in one of those EU-funded projects (PARRISE) are integrated in the Swedish biology curriculum in lower secondary school (The national agency for education, 2011). The research question was: To what extent are CE, IBSE, RRI and SSI integrated in the national biology education curriculum in Sweden? The curriculum in biology for lower secondary school in Sweden has been analyzed. In focus for the content analysis of the curriculum has been the four major aspects; CE, IBSE, RRI SSI. Aims, core content and knowledge requirements have been studied. The four aspects from the project framework are to large extent expressed in the Swedish biology curriculum. The aspects IBSE and SSI dominate the curriculum. However, the RRI aspects are not explicitly expressed. The Swedish biology curriculum is well-adapted to the thoughts that are expressed in the 21st century skills and articulated in the project as four aspects.

The problem of animal homelessness is a multifaceted and urgent social phenomenon. The main difficulties: combining measures of humane and effective control of the number of homeless animals; public health risks; development of a unified state and public position and decision model. This is an important issue of social and personal responsibility of citizens, as well as a weakly sounding problem on the social agenda. The purpose of the article is to show the attitude of representatives of the virtual community towards it, as well as to evaluate the methods of work they use. The methodological basis of the research was made up of a semi-formalized targeted interview and analysis of network content. The results show that civilians interested in solving this problem form virtual communities. They use the network resource for information and communication activities, although the community under study is distinguished by the use of real educational and volunteer practices. The methods they use are not always correct from an ethical and even legal point of view. Their practice is a kind of reaction to the lack of attention to the problem on the part of the state. The general conclusion of the work done: against the background of a low degree of civil, corporate and personal responsibility towards pets, the efforts of caring subjects are largely reduced to private, not fully legalized initiatives.

This thesis focuses on a potential contribution of the study of socioscientific issues (SSIs) in school context to a Citizenship Education (CE). The CE is the declared aim of the SSI research movement. It is also the one of the French middle school curriculum, promoted through "convergence topics" teaching which are common to several academic subjects. But the concept of citizenship is a dynamic and moving concept. The socio-political research field highlights a plurality of citizen profiles. Also, regarding the citizen building, the SSI research movement is not consensual about the meaning of CE. Our research raises the question of what kind of citizen, we (according to society) want to build and what EC should be promoted. If the project is to build a citizen who participates in debate and decision-making about technoscientific issues through democratic participation, view also promoted by some researchers, then we need to focus on an emancipatory and critical CE. Therefore, the SSI study using debate through "convergence topics" teaching seems to be a good way to explore this potential contribution of the SSIs studies to a critical CE. Promoting a critical CE, for which a model has been build, we have developed a educative design, supported by this model and Albe's model (2007) in the methodological approach of the design-based research. This design has been built such as a citizen conference for 11-12 years old students. They were asked to practice a critical citizenship through literature search, a debate finalized by a decision and an activity around the evaluation of the selected information in the web. They have to work on a real situation: the installation of an Internet connection in their school by the wireless system using waves or by the wire line system using cables. The various written or oral data were analysed in the framework of our model of critical CE. The epistemological dimension of Albe's model (2007) was used to determine what knowledge were mobilized by the young students during the ...