Patterns of Informal Reasoning in the Context of Socioscientific Decision Making.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to a theoretical knowledge base through research by examining factors salient to science education reform and practice in the context of socioscientific issues. The study explores how individuals negotiate and resolve genetic engineering dilemmas. A quali- tative approach was used to examine patterns of informal reasoning and the role of morality in these processes. Thirty college students participated individually in two semistructured interviews designed to explore their informal reasoning in response to six genetic engineering scenarios. Students demonstrated evidence of rationalistic, emotive, and intuitive forms of informal reasoning. Rationalistic informal re- asoning described reason-based considerations; emotive informal reasoning described care-based consi- derations; and intuitive reasoning described considerations based on immediate reactions to the context of a scenario. Participants frequently relied on combinations of these reasoning patterns as they worked to resolve individual socioscientific scenarios. Most of the participants appreciated at least some of the moral implications of their decisions, and these considerations were typically interwoven within an overall pattern of informal reasoning. These results highlight the need to ensure that science classrooms are environments in which intuition and emotion in addition to reason are valued. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 112-138, 2005 The phrase ''socioscientific issues'' has come to represent a variety of social dilemmas with conceptual, procedural, or technological associations with science (Fleming, 1986; Kolsto, 2001; Patronis, Potari, & Spiliotopoulou, 1999; Zeidler, Walker, Ackett, & Simmons, 2002). Socioscientific issues typically involve the products or the processes of science and create social debate or controversy. Current socioscientific issues frequently stem from biotechnological advances such as cloning, stem cells, and genetically modified foods and environmental challenges such as global climate change, land-use decisions, and the introduction of exotic substances (both biotic and abiotic). The delineation of socioscientific issues should not imply that