This study questions the presumed relation between formal schooling and scientific literacy about biotechnologies. Comparing science and nonscience majors' knowledge of and attitudes toward biotechnological applications, conclusions are drawn if their formal learnings improve pupils' understandings of and attitudes toward biotechnology applications. Sample of the study consists of 403 undergraduate and graduate students, 198 nonscience, and 205 science majors. The Biotechnology Knowledge Questionnaire and the Biotechnology Attitude Questionnaire were administered.Descriptive statistics (mean and percentages), t test, and correlations were used to examine the participants' knowledge of biotechnology and attitudes toward biotechnological applications and differences as regards their majors. Although the science majors had higher knowledge and attitude scores than the nonscience majors, it is not possible to say that they have sufficient knowledge of biotechnologies. Besides, the participants' attitudes toward biotechnological applications were not considerably related to their knowledge of biotechnology.

This research is conducted to explore the pre-service teachers’ views of science-technology-society (STS) issues and to investigate the influence of a History of Science (HOS) course on these views. The influence of teaching STS issues through different instructional approaches on the pre-service teachers’ views was also examined. Sample is consisted of 93 pre-service teachers. 11 adapted items of Views of Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS) questionnaire (Aikenhead, Ryan & Fleming, 1989) were administered. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Wilcoxon Sign-Test) were used to examine and compare pre-service teachers’ pre- and post-test responses. Findings revealed that the HOS course and the instructional approach did not have significant influences on the pre-service teachers’ STS views. Key words: science-technology-society, pre-service teachers, history of science, views of science-technology-society questionnaire.

Turkey's politically induced 'curricular modernization initiative' intended a philosophical change and a system-level transformation from behaviouristic to constructivist-inspired pedagogies in the early 2000s. Science curriculum has been one of the curricula that has taken precedence. It has changed four times since then. The latest science curriculum for grades 3-8 -age group 9-13 -is issued in 2018. This study examines these curricula and discusses curriculum making at the macro site. Whether or to what extent the tools of state-based curriculum making (ToSBCM) are used is also investigated. Directed content analysis and thematic analysis are used to address the research questions. Findings revealed that Turkey's latest science curriculum is a reformulation of its predecessors' goals, learning outcomes and content. ToSBCM are effectively used in introducing the new emphases of curriculum, managing discourse communities and granting the executive responsibility to teachers. Considering Turkey's curricular experiences as a country which has one of the most centralized education systems among OECD countries, and a very large hierarchical national administration with schools having the lowest levels of autonomy in determining curriculum and assessment policies among countries participating in PISA, findings offer opportunities to compare and discuss processes of curriculum making with an international perspective.

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