Exploring Preservice Science Teachers’ Emotive Reasoning through Place-Based SSI Instruction: The Case of Gold Mining

Engaging in socioscientific issues (SSI) requires considering different positions, and perspectives as well as different emotional reactions. The aim of this chapter is twofold: First, it was aimed to explain how a local gold mining case can be used for place-based SSI instruction. Each step from planning (taking required permission from the authorities) to implementation was explained in detail. The second is to explore how preservice science teachers (N = 15) experiencing local place-based SSI instruction in gold mining in Türkiye expressed different forms of emotive reasoning about people and nature affected by the local SSI (gold mining) before and after the instruction. Four types of emotive reasoning (apathy, passive case, moderated concern, and empathetic dissonance) were detected in participants’ responses. While there were fewer instances of different types of emotive reasoning, few preservice teachers showed no emotive attachment (coded as apathy) and expressed general concern (coded as passive care) toward the environment or people affected by the local SSI before the instruction. Both the number of instances and the intensity of emotive reactions (coded as moderated concern and empathetic dissonance) increased significantly after the instruction. Further in-depth analyses revealed that participants engaged in the local SSI by making value judgments, asserting helplessness, and diverting responsibility to third parties (as forms of moderated concern). In addition, they developed a deep compassion for the people and environment affected by the local SSI, guilt for failing to address SSI, rage toward those who were thought to be responsible for SSI, and righteous indignation when the moral standards of equity and justice were violated as a result of SSI. In the last part, how the gold mining case constitutes an interesting and compelling SSI that intrigued preservice science teachers’ emotive reactions and how a local SSI can be transferred to a global context were discussed.