Encouraging learners to engage with complex issues involving scientific, social, environmental, and political dimensions supports a deeper understanding of complex and often controversial topics. Topics such as poverty, food and water security, social justice, and climate change invite examination from multiple perspectives and foster systems thinking. Researchers indicate that engaging with complex content in socio-scientific contexts, which evolve alongside developments in science, technology, and policy, creates relevant and timely learning contexts. Consequently, engagement that reflects these developments is inherently challenging, as it must adapt to ongoing change.
Moreover,understanding complex issues (such as wicked problems) often requires adopting a broad perspective that emphasizes how different disciplines are connected, alongside sustained engagement in each domain. This dual focus supports learners in grappling with complexity without losing sight of disciplinary depth.
An example of engaging with complex content can be found in the “Radon Gas” project, in which students investigated the phenomenon of radon gas by examining measurements collected using different instruments and in different types of spaces (e.g., researchers’ laboratories and rooms of varying types and locations). Students explored relationships between the characteristics of different spaces and the radon levels measured within them, and evaluated the degree of risk associated with long-term exposure to radon in these environments. Through this work, students engaged deeply with multiple domains, including physics and materials science (in relation to gas diffusion, properties, and sources), statistics (in relation to data analysis, inference, and uncertainty), and science more broadly (in relation to examining theories in light of data). In addition, students examined connections among these domains by raising questions about relationships between spatial characteristics and radon levels, about how scientific conclusions can be drawn, and about how the validity of such conclusions can be evaluated.
Deepening and Expansion ▼
Wicked problems and their contribution to education
Achiam et al. (2021) address education for complex content in their work on wicked problems. The introduction defines wicked problems and explains the background for the emergence of the concept. The authors note that wicked problems pose significant challenges to society at large, including to educators who design curricula and teachers who engage students in complex dilemmas. Addressing wicked problems in instructional contexts affords opportunities to engage with relevant and current content. Such engagement can be supported through visits to museums, information centers, zoos, botanical gardens, and guest lectures in informal settings. Subsequent chapters in the book present empirical studies on education for complex content, including investigations of possible climate scenarios in 2085, learning at archaeological sites, and museum dioramas illustrating species extinction. The final chapter synthesizes insights across the studies and suggests that mediating connections among past, present, and future in relation to complex problems fosters learners’ identification with the challenges posed by these issues. In addition, the authors highlight the value of place-based learning for identifying both local and global solutions.
Implementing socio-scientific issues (SSI) in classroom learning
Sadler (2011) focuses on project-based instruction centered on socio-scientific issues (SSI) and offers insights for educators. One key insight is that such learning can be implemented across a wide age range and in diverse subject areas, including the use of science and technology to enhance human performance, public policy issues (e.g., fluoridation), diseases (e.g., SARS, cystic fibrosis, and AIDS), scientific issues with social implications (e.g., biological determinism), and environmental issues (e.g., air quality, water quality, and climate change). Findings reported in the book emphasize the importance of engaging students with topics perceived as relevant or interesting to them. Instruction should situate content within scientific contexts while addressing the ethical questions underlying specific issues.
Socio-scientific issues, as exemplars of complex content, are open-ended and continually evolving in alignment with scientific, technological, and policy developments. Accordingly, the use of a particular issue in instructional contexts must be constantly adapted to reflect its current state.
Pedagogical strategies employed in education for socio-scientific issues include innovative simulation activities, role-playing, discussions, and a range of group-based activities. Technology is used in diverse ways, including comprehensive platforms for content delivery, support for scientific data collection, and access to multiple perspectives on the issue under investigation. In addition, laboratory exercises and inquiry activities are commonly employed. The overarching conclusion is that there is no single way to teach socio-scientific issues; educators must carefully consider classroom context, learner characteristics, and the nature of the topics they wish to introduce in order to select the most appropriate strategy.
Interdisciplinary instruction and broad perspectives as tools for addressing complex content
Willamo et al. (2018) emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary instruction for equipping learners with tools to address contemporary sustainability challenges. They note that challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty, and rapid urbanization are complex and interconnected. Addressing these challenges requires comprehensive approaches that incorporate multiple perspectives and emphasize interrelationships among domains. In other words, learners must be educated to adopt broad perspectives without losing sight of the detailed understanding required within each complex domain. The pedagogy proposed in the article is calledgeneralism, holism, and holarchism (GHH), and it addresses both the overarching picture emerging from complex, multidisciplinary topics and the nuances within each individual domain. The authors present practical examples of implementing this pedagogy.
Additional Resources
Hacohen, Y. (2021). Wicked Problem. Dualog Knowledge Repository.
References ▼
Achiam, M., Dillon, J., & Glackin, M. (Eds.). (2021). Addressing wicked problems through science education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74266-9.
Glasser, H. (2018). Toward robust foundations fo sustainablewell-being societies: Learning to change by changing how we learn. In: Sustainability, human well-being, and the future of education, 31-89.
Kali, Y., (2006). Collaborative knowledge-building using the Design Principles Database. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 1(2), 187-201.
Lehtonen, A., Salonen, A., Cantell, H., & Riuttanen, L. (2018). A pedagogy of interconnectedness for encountering climate change as a wicked sustainability problem. Journal of Cleaner Production, 199, 860-867.
Sedler. T, (Ed.). (2011). Socio- scientific issues in the classroom: Teaching, learning and research. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1159-4
Willamo, R., Helenius, L., Holmström, C., Haapanen, L., Sandström, V., Huotari, E., Kaarre, K., Värre, U., Nuotiomäki, A., Happonen, J., & Kolehmainen, L. (2018). Learning how to understand complexity and deal with sustainability challenges – A framework for a comprehensive approach and its application in university education. Ecological Modelling, 370, 1–13. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.12.011