Science and Moral Inquiry as the Yin and Yang of SSI Education: Two Examples of SSI Research from Sweden

This chapter reflects on the contribution of science education by means of socio scientific issues (SSI) to global citizenship education and education for sustainability from a Swedish research perspective. The relation between what science inquiry and moral inquiry may entail in SSI for educating our future citizens is discussed. We argue that equipping citizens not only with factual knowledge, but also training them to act with moral reflection, has become an even more important goal for education due to the current planetary emergency. Ethics/morality are of special importance for SSI argumentation, but research is still limited concerning how people’s knowledge, value and personal experience are related to ethics/morality in SSI argumentation and how moral inquiry can be further enhanced through education. The chapter is composed of three main parts. First, SSI related research, practices and policy in Sweden are briefly presented. Second, two empirical studies from Sweden are presented as examples to further reveal the complexity of people’s knowledge, value and personal experience in relation to science and moral inquiry. Last, a didactic model for science and moral inquiry via SSI is presented to promote reflective and responsible citizens for sustainability and Bildung globally. In the chapter, science and moral inquiry are seen as intertwined in SSI education, as two entities which presuppose each other like the Yin and Yang in Daoist Chinese philosophy.