Debates on the role of scientific knowledge to affect behaviour are continuing. The theory of planned behaviour suggests that behaviour is influenced by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control and not by knowledge. However, a large body of knowledge argues that increased HIV/AIDSrelated knowledge leads to the adoption of safe behavioural practices. The purpose of this nonexperimental survey study, therefore, was to investigate the correlation between academic HIV/AIDS knowledge, functional HIV/AIDS knowledge and self-reported behavioural preferences of 300 biology and 243 non-biology students from nine South African schools. Results suggest a correlation between students' understanding of academic and functional HIV/AIDS knowledge. The behavioural preferences of both biology and non-biology students were generally the same and safe. Among biology students, correlation was observed between academic HIV/AIDS knowledge and self-reported safe behavioural preferences, which was not the case for non-biology students, where functional HIV/AIDS knowledge correlated with self-reported safe behavioural preferences. Within schools, however, no correlation was found between both forms of HIV/AIDS knowledge and self-reported safe behavioural preferences. There were indications that context-specific local factors have a greater influence on behavioural preferences. These findings suggest that the type of knowledge that could influence behaviour is informed by context-specific dynamics.Keywords: Scientific HIV/AIDS knowledge; Correlation; Generic HIV/AIDS knowledge; Theory of planned behaviour IntroductionThe significance of science education in addressing social issues continues to be a debated one. In developing countries like South Africa, science and education in general are trusted avenues where students learn scientific knowledge. However, Lee et al. (2013, 5) argue that 'beyond understanding contemporary science, it is imperative that students develop a sense of character and values as global citizens '. Choi et al. (2011) go on to argue that science classroom should go beyond teaching science knowledge and reasoning skills to incorporate moral, character and citizenship education. While socioscientific instruction has been identified as one vehicle to achieve citizenship education (Zeidler et al. 2005), one of the major problems is that there are various factors that determine morality, character and citizenship besides formal education. To this effect, John Dewey has been accused of failing 'to resolve the dualism between the school and society that he fought to overcome because he failed to account for the many institutions in society which provide education' (Zuga 1992, 5). Dewey's (1916) argument in this regard is that 'education should shape the experiences of the young so that instead of reproducing current habits, better habits shall be formed, and thus the future adult society be an improvement on their own'. However, Hodson (2004, 2) states that 'regrettably, science is often portraye...

HIV/AIDS education should empower students to create knowledge using everyday life experiences. Such knowledge should then be used to construe experience and resolve social problems such as risk behaviour that leads to infection. In South Africa, attempts to reduce the spread of HIV include incorporating HIV/AIDS education in the Biology curriculum.However, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of Biology-based HIV/AIDS education. The current study therefore aimed to identify strategies that can be used to enhance Biology students' understanding of HIV/AIDS and promote the use of this knowledge in their daily lives. A predominantly qualitative mixed-method approach with Delphi technique was used to gather and analyse data from secondary-school Biology students and teachers, as well as HIV/AIDS experts specializing in medicine and research. Findings show that most students rely on knowledge learnt in Biology to make decisions related to HIV/AIDS. Respondents suggested that HIV/AIDS education should be taught collaboratively by teachers, people living with HIV, and HIV/AIDS experts. Biology concepts and teaching strategies that could enhance students' understanding of HIV/AIDS, which are not part of the current Biology curriculum, were identified.

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