Perceptions of STS Topics Among Uruguayan College Students: Implications for Secondary School Curricular Reform

摘要

The purpose of this descriptive and exploratory study was to measure the perceptions regarding a variety of science,rntechnology, and society (STS) topics among a sample of Uruguay underclassmen college students. These perceptions wererncompared with the viewpoints of a group of professional scientists. It was found that, for some STS topics, such as the rolernof humans in global climate change, the perceptions of Uruguay underclassmen and scientists were statistically identical. Forrntopics, such as the problem of human overpopulation, both groups find themselves on the same side of the issue but withrna statistically significant gap between them. Uruguay underclassmen and professional scientists have opposite views on STSrntopics such as the use of animals for scientific research. A sizable proportion of Uruguay underclassmen were not familiarrnwith several STS topics, such as the scientific work of the International Space Station. Implications for formal and informalrnSTEM education efforts are discussed.