Comprehensive Exploration of Science Education Research within Socioscientific Contexts in Taiwan: Examining Curriculum Reform, Research Status, Reflections and Implications

Integrating socioscientific issues (SSI) into science teaching supports global scientific literacy goals and aligns with the curriculum philosophy of social reconstructionism. Taiwan’s curriculum reforms in 2001 and 2018 incorporated controversial issues and SSI into natural science guidelines, emphasizing SSI-based teaching in compulsory education. Taiwanese scholars contribute to SSI research in both English and Chinese. Chinese-language publications on SSI research are categorized into five groups: teachers’ instruction, analysis and utilization of SSI texts, SSI scale development, relationships among variables, and students’ learning outcomes. Among these, research on students’ learning outcomes after SSI-based instruction is the most prevalent, leading to further exploration in areas such as affective assessment, various higher-order thinking skills, and tracking students’ learning progression. In response to curriculum reforms, two instructional cases are presented: one integrating technology-assisted learning and the other emphasizing the deliberative democratic process. The Chinese empirical studies on SSI-based instruction highlight challenges such as the duration of mutual support partnerships, limited SSI integration in science textbooks, adaptation time for teachers and students, and the complexity of rational decision-making in SSI contexts. Addressing these challenges is essential for effectively promoting SSI-based instruction.