Title:

The Role of Topic Interest on Socioscientific Decision-Making in Undergraduate Students

The evaluation of scientific information is critical when justifying a decision about a controversial scientific issue, or, a socioscientific issue (SSI). However, individuals may justify their SSI decisions through reflecting upon personal sources of information (e.g., personal experiences), authoritative sources of information (e.g., academic topic, religious leaders, political affiliations), or multiple sources of information (e.g., corroboration between personal and authoritative sources). The level of interest may vary about an SSI, strongly influencing the information utilized when justifying an SSI decision. This mixed methods study investigates the relationships between undergraduate students’ level of topic interest and the justification for knowing across two SSIs: the use of fetal tissue in medical treatment and taxing car owners due to climate change. Participating students from a UNH science Discovery Course (N=144) completed Likert-scale measurements of topic interest for both SSIs. This was followed by a modified version of the Decision-Making Questionnaire, where students read two SSI case studies and then responded to open ended questions. Based upon the initial qualitative phase of analysis through thematic coding of the written responses, students justified their decisions about fetal tissue use in medical research through information stemming from either authoritative sources or personal experiences. However, when supporting decisions about climate change, students seem to be relying on justifications from multiple sources, consisting of both academic and personal experiences. The next analytic steps are to quantitatively determine how level of topic interest play a role in the selection of knowledge that students use when justifying these decisions. The results of this research may contribute to the development of a formal SSI decision-making model that can be used within required science courses.

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