The results are summarized and presented as
follows:
1. Decision making frameworks serve as a guide
for students so that they were able to consider the
issue from multiple perspectives.
2. Decision making on SSI is important in
developing scientific conceptions and clarifying the
misconceptions.
3. Conservation issues are a prerequisite to
making informed decisions about wider issues of
sustainable development.
4. Decision making on SSI consists of conceptual
understanding, nature of scientific inquiry, value
clarification, and argumentation.
5. Debating serves as a teaching approach to
enhance understanding of socio-scientific issues and
International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Volume 5, Issue 4, December 2014 Copyright © 2014, Infonomics Society 1780
to encourage critical thinking leading to better
decision-making.
6. Issue-based approaches could be used to guide
students towards informed decision-making. It
promotes the students’ conceptual understanding,
understanding of scientific inquiry, attitudes and
values, and their ability to engage in rational
argumentation.
The need and relevance of emphasizing decision
making in science teaching have also been argued by
several educators through the last few three decade.
Based on the mentioned principles and theories, it
was found that lower secondary school students
became an important target in developing the ability
in socio-scientific decision making. Students
learning science this way would not just memorize
information, but they would use scientific thinking to
make everyday decisions. However, there is no
current form of teaching to develop socio-scientific
decision making, a future research should be
developed to support the style for lower secondary
school students in correlation with a reform in the
study of science in the future.