Developing decision-making skills for socio-scientific issues

The ability to make informed decisions on science-related social issues is considered an important attribute of scientific literacy. Literature to inform science educators how to bridge the gap between rhetoric and practice-and to assist them in developing this attribute in their students-burgeons. In view of the great diversity of socio-scientific issues, more work still needs to be done at the classroom level to identify evidence-based pedagogic practices which can enhance students' decision-making ability. This paper uses smoking as an issue in order to reflect on how an integrative, issue-based approach could be used to guide students towards informed decision-making, by promoting their conceptual understanding, understanding of scientific inquiry, attitudes and values, and their ability to engage in rational argumentation. Copyright © 2007 by the Institute of Biology.