Promoting Reflections on Decision-Making in Socio-Scientific Issues

Socioscientific issues (SSIs) require reflective decision-making. Findings have indicated that decision-making is more often based on heuristics than rational considerations. To improve one’s decision-making, it is essential to reflect upon decisions to increase awareness of the initially applied heuristics. Furthermore, research has indicated that decision-making depends on the decision-maker’s perspective on an SSI. Using a 2x2- experimental-design, we have investigated effects of two variables on secondary students’ ability to reflect their own decision-making. Variables were (1) instruction regarding the “method of reflection”, and (2) the “perspective adopted on an SSI”, which was either individual or collective. Data on students’ reflections were collected three times. Findings showed that students who had learned a specific method of reflection outperformed others regarding the quality of their reflections. Thus, this study provides evidence for the effectiveness of explicitly teaching and learning in terms of reflecting on one’s own decision-making in the context of an SSI.