Exploring Teachers’ Concerns About Bringing Responsible Research and Innovation to European Science Classrooms

Abstract

The European Union pushes science education to orient toward the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI; i.e., socially and ethically sensitive and inclusive processes of science and technology). Schools should further understanding on how science interacts with society and increase students' engagement in science. This exploratory study analysed concerns of 67 active, forward-looking teachers from 10 European countries using a questionnaire based on the concerns-based adoption model (C-BAM) and open-ended questions regarding the adoption of RRI into teaching. In the context of an international professional development programme on RRI, a pre/ post comparison was also carried out for 29 of the teachers. The results showed that the forerunner teachers were willing to find information and collaborate on RRI teaching and believed that RRI can engage students and be a worthwhile part of the curriculum. Yet the respondents voiced personal concerns about their ability to teach RRI, and only a few concerns were resolved during the professional development period. Teachers need extended support and networking to contextualise RRI into their science lessons. On the basis of the results, we discuss the possibilities of teaching RRI implicitly rather than explicitly in order to foster students' own reasoning about RRIrelated values. Our results also demonstrate that the customary questionnaire used with C-BAM gives a consistent picture of teachers' concerns but does not differentiate teachers enough in order to formulate a statistically sound clustering of concern profiles. We argue that with proper adjustments the questionnaire can provide more diverse and informative profiling of teachers' concerns.

Undergraduate Disabled Students as Knowledge Producers including Researchers: A Missed Topic in Academic Literature

“…Some have argued that STEM education programs should "present broader STEM career possibilities, including careers that integrate social justice, empathy, and equity matters" [78] (p. 1). Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a concept in the European Community applied to science education to broaden its scope [79][80][81].…”

“…Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a concept developed within the EU for science education to increase social and ethical issues within scientific and technological research and innovation [79][80][81]. Undergraduate disabled research students could contribute to this goal by providing data on what RRI must think about in relation to disabled people, to be socially and ethically sensitive and inclusive in relation to disabled people.…”

The Irresistible Use of Contexts in Chemistry Education

“…About a third of the teachers was qualified as 'Enthusiasts' with very little negative concerns and a lot of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 positive interests. [32] Two other clusters were the 'practical concerns' cluster and the 'un-confident' cluster. These teachers focus mainly on practical concerns, such as getting information and managing the teaching.…”

“…An overview of teachers reactions was published in 2017. [32] An overview of students responses was published a year earlier. [34] One of the main problems mentioned by teachers is the time needed to go through the module.…”

Transforming Scientists’ Understanding of Science–Society Relations. Stimulating Double-Loop Learning when Teaching RRI

“…The EU project EnRRIch has worked with higher-education policymakers to map the links between RRI and policy priorities for teaching and learning in higher education. Teachers' concerns (de Vocht et al 2017) and adaptions (Okada et al 2018) to RRI in teaching as well as reports from inclusion-oriented deliberations and actions in emerging RRI practices that focus on scientists (de Jong et al 2016) have also received attention. Still, it is not clear how one should teach RRI and what the content of the training should be.…”