Recent decades have seen an increasing emphasis on linking the content and aims of science teaching to what the average citizen requires in order to participate effectively in contemporary society, one that is heavily dependent on science and technology. However, despite attempts to define what a scientific education for citizenship should ideally involve, a comprehensive set of key aspects has yet to be clearly established. With this in mind, the present study sought to determine empirically the extent of any consensus in Spain regarding the principal aspects of scientific competence that citizens should possess in order to function adequately in everyday life. This was done by means of a three‐stage Delphi process involving 31 participants drawn from among leading and acknowledged Spanish scholar‐scientists and engineers, researchers and private sector scientists, philosophers of science, science educators, and science communicators. The outcome of this process was a set of five aspects for which there was both consensus and stability. Several of these aspects were also found to be interrelated. There was a tendency for higher ratings to be given to aspects related to attitudes and/or values than to those referring to knowledge. It was in relation to the latter, along with other aspects concerning the nature of science, that discrepancies were observed among the different professional groups surveyed. Comparison of the present results with the content of previous reports indicates that in recent decades the ability to think critically and skills related to the interpretation of information have been considered to be important aspects for citizens to acquire as part of their scientific education. It is argued that the five key aspects identified in this study should be considered jointly in the context of school science education, since they are interrelated skills that citizens will require when tackling important issues and making decisions in various spheres of their life (personal, social, professional, etc.). © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 52:164–198, 2015.

The development of critical thinking among citizens is crucial for the advancement of humanity in a dynamic and ever-changing world. Therefore, it is essential to promote a critical understanding of the challenges we face as a society. Initially, this chapter addresses how various scholars have discussed and developed the construct of critical thinking from philosophical and cognitive psychology perspectives, with a particular emphasis on its integration into science education. Next, the ENCIC-CT model to critical thinking development is introduced. This framework was formulated during the research project that underpins this book, and guides its constituent chapters. This model proposes developing critical thinking in science education through daily life problems and includes three key domains of action: knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Each domain comprises different dimensions that can be addressed through scientific practices such as argumentation, inquiry, or modeling, using various teaching strategies including gamification/role-playing, micro-debates, augmented reality, controversy mapping, and multimedia resources such as digital storytelling, among others. This model can also be applied to the analysis and design of educational proposals in teacher training.

In this paper we explore the views and opinions of four secondary education science teachers regarding the teaching of scientific competences. Their views were gathered in the context of a training programme in which they had to design, implement, and assess their own teaching unit for developing students’ scientific competences by means of context-based learning. Analysis of the data yielded a set of 14 categories distributed across 5 areas: scientific competence and context-based teaching; the teacher and his/her professional environment; implementation in the classroom; development of the teaching unit; and assessment. This process also identified the aspects which teachers believed either facilitated or acted as an obstacle to the development of scientific competences through context-based teaching. We discuss the implications of our findings and suggest ways in which a shift towards a context-based approach to teaching scientific competences can best be achieved, and consider a series of factors related to teachers’ professional identity that may influence this process.

This study concerns a framework for designing Teaching-Learning Sequences that aims to integrate the implementation of scientific practices in the context of daily problems. Said framework consists of three stages (formulation of the design principles, instructional design and design of the learning activities). It is based on four design principles: (1) the context-scientific model relationship as the axis around which the teaching-learning sequence is based, (2) scientific practices as tools for treating the problem and constructing the scientific model, (3) use of driven questions, and (4) promotion of knowledge transfer. Similarly, the choice of context, the proposal of questions, the drafting of objectives, selection of knowledge, design of the sequence of activities and design of the evaluation are important during instructional design. This framework has been used to design a teaching-learning sequence based on learning the lactic fermentation model in the context of yoghurt preparation such that argumentation, inquiry and modelling play a key role in the educational treatment. Implementation of this teaching-learning sequence has shown an improvement in the lactic fermentation models proposed by Spanish students aged 14–16 years. These findings are considered to be initial evidence for the utility of the teaching-learning sequence and the framework.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of a one-semester training program on the teaching profile of five pre-service secondary science teachers, following a case study that allows us to focus closely on their perceptions related to inquiry-based science education (IBSE). Through a mixed-methods analysis of a variety of qualitative and quantitative research instruments, we aim to identify the changes in the pre-service teachers’ IBSE educational achievements in terms of their capability to effectively design inquiry activities, as well as in the perceptions affecting their teaching practice concerning emotions and self-efficacy. After a general overview of the results, we provide a specific vision for each participant, and present the conclusions regarding the acceptable level developed in both inquiry learning and teaching. Finally, we analyze the possible links between all the factors considered (perceptions, emotions, and design performance) and put forward several suggestions for professional development programs.