2024年11月14日，在北京师范大学“社会性科学议题学习”项目负责人林静老师的组织与带领下，在北京市特级教师周有祥老师具体指导下，SSI-L公益学术沙龙项目，在线上成功举办。本次沙龙聚焦于中学生物学教学中的社会性科学议题，旨在探讨如何在生物学教学中发掘和实施社会性科学议题，提升学生的综合素养。会议由北京市特级教师周有祥老师主持。
会议伊始，周有祥老师对参与沙龙的各位专家教授和老师表示欢迎，并介绍了林静教授及其团队在社会性科学议题学习项目中的研究成果。随后，会议进入主体部分，各位老师和教授围绕中学生物学教学中的社会性科学议题进行了深入的分享和讨论。
北京市玉渊潭中学生物学科教研组组长房颖老师以《基于中学生物学教学SSI-L课程开发与实施分享》为题，分享了在玉渊潭中学开展的SSI-L课程实践。房老师先是介绍玉渊潭中学教学团队围绕口罩戴不戴为核心议题，在初一年级的校本选修课上开展社会性科学议题的背景、教师团队组成、学校及生源情况、授课方式及地点等，接下来房老师简要介绍了选修课的课程设计思路与每课时的议题驱动问题和教学规划，房老师提到这种教学方式要求学生运用跨学科知识进行实践，提出解决方案，并在探究中提升创新思维能力。最后房老师提出了在实施过程中遇到的挑战与困惑，如教学进度协调、学生受众范围小、学生认知限制、授课时间间隔长等问题。
北京市第一六六中学张婉钰老师以《论证式教学策略在SSI情境教学中的设计与实施》为题介绍本校中学生物学SSI-L课程的开发和实施情况。张老师提到在生物学教学中要从聚焦课标中的概念和学生生活经验出发发掘SSI主题，目标是锻炼学生解决实际问题和进行科学表述的能力，围绕学生特点和教学目标选择论证式教学策略。张老师介绍了本校选定的3个SSI主题，并围绕在高中年级开展的《论证转基因玉米的安全性》和在初中年级开展的《吸烟是否有害健康》两个具体教学案例，对教学背景、教学目标、教学过程、课时设计及学生的学习成果进行了详细介绍。
接下来，由参会的各位教授专家围绕两位中学生物教师分享的SSI教学案例进行点评与交流。先是华南师范大学李伟华教授对社会性科学议题的本质特征提出了疑问，她强调议题的争议性和不确定性是其核心，并针对两位老师分享的3个教学案例依次谈了自己的想法与建议，与张婉钰老师围绕《吸烟是否有害健康》这一SSI教学主题展开讨论。紧接着安徽师范大学韩菲教授对两位中学生物学教师的案例分享进行点评，认为两位老师的课程都各有特点，并且针对房颖老师提出在课程实施过程中的疑惑，一一作出自己的解答，给出很多宝贵的想法与建议。接下来由河南师范大学张黛静教授针对两位老师的案例分享自己的看法，她认为房颖老师分享的案例中 8 个驱动问题的递进性的逻辑性非常强，活动的设计方面也是逐层递进，能起到很好的教学效果。她认为张婉钰老师分享的教学案例专业性更强，围绕具体案例与张婉钰老师进行交流，并提出老师们在设计课程的时候应该帮学生在科学性问题上做到更好的把关。接下来新疆维吾尔自治区教育科学研究院张丁文老师先是根据前面各位老师和教授的交流，分享了自己对于SSI-L的理解，并且分享了可供选择的一些SSI主题与如何对学习成果进行评价的想法和建议。之后介绍了乌鲁木齐市第139中学以“现实问题”为导向的跨学科项目设计与实践案例——蚯蚓堆肥改良土壤环境和在高三年级开展的进化主题的一节课程，介绍了大致的教学设计与实践，分享了自己今天的想法与学习。安徽师范大学韩菲教授分享了在今年暑假在初中年级的社团课开展的《探秘外来物种——水竹芋》案例，韩教授介绍了本课程的大致背景、具体教学中安排的学习任务以及预期学生能达到的成果，提出自己在开展过程中遇到的如何平衡社会性和科学性的问题，向在座专家教授教师们请教。最后以教师教育课程中的一个活动：是否有必要在饮食中摄入益生菌为例，分享了自己对于师范生教育中的思考与反思。接下来在周有祥教师主持下，华南师范大学李伟华教授、河南师范大学张黛静教授、新疆维吾尔自治区教育科学研究院张丁文老师围绕韩菲教授分享的水竹芋课程案例与师范生教育案例展开了深入交流探讨，给出了很多宝贵建议。
最后，由北京师范大学林静教授对会议进行了总结。林静教授首先充分肯定了本次沙龙各位老师及专家教授分享的SSI课程案例，认为众多案例都很有新意，为如何在生物学教学中开展社会性议题教学带来很多启发，并围绕各位老师的分享表达了自己的想法、建议和思考。林教授对社会性科学议题在生物学教学中的价值进行了强调，提出了如何通过社会性科学议题来提升学生的科学素养和综合能力的具体建议，对未来的生物学教学中社会性科学议题学校研究和实践提出了期望。
在深入的探讨和交流之后，本次会议逐渐接近尾声。各位专家教授和教师的发言不仅体现了对中学生物学教学中社会性科学议题的深刻理解，也展现了对教育实践的深度反思和前瞻性思考。通过本次沙龙，我们共同见证了社会性科学议题在培养学生科学素养、跨学科实践、批判性思维、解决实际问题能力和决策能力等各方面的巨大潜力。社会性科学议题的教学不仅是知识的传授，更是思维的激发和价值观的塑造。这种教学方式要求我们教师不断更新教学理念，创新教学方法，以适应新时代教育的需求。在未来，我们期待能够将社会性科学议题更深入地融入中学生物学教学中，使之成为培养学生综合素质的重要载体。
供稿：刘雪彤
On November 14, 2024, a public SSI-L academic salon was successfully held online, under the leadership of Professor Lin Jing, head of the Beijing Normal University Socio-Scientific Issues Learning Project, and with specific guidance from Zhou Youxiang, a special-rank teacher of Beijing. This salon focused on socio-scientific issues in middle school biology teaching and aimed to explore how to identify and implement socio-scientific issues in biology teaching to enhance students' overall literacy. The salon was chaired by the special-rank teacher of Beijing, Zhou Youxiang.
It began with Zhou Youxiang welcoming all the experts, professors, and teachers attending the salon. He introduced Professor Lin Jing and her team’s research achievements in the Socio-Scientific Issues Learning Project. After this, the main discussion began, with teachers and professors sharing and discussing the implementation of socio-scientific issues in middle school biology teaching.
Fang Ying, team leader of the biology teaching and research group at Beijing Yuyuantan Middle School, took the topic of "Development and Implementation of SSI-L Course Based on Middle School Biology Teaching" and shared her experience in developing and implementing the SSI-L course in her school. She began by introducing that the teaching team at Yuyuantan Middle School took the issue of whether to wear masks and carried out socio-scientific issues learning in the school-based elective courses for the first grade of middle school, as well as its background, the composition of the teaching team, circumstances of the school and the source of students, the teaching methods and locations, etc. She then briefly introduced the curriculum design ideas of the elective courses and the issue’s driving questions and teaching plans for each class. Fang mentioned that this teaching method requires students to use interdisciplinary knowledge for practice, propose solutions, and improve their innovative thinking ability through investigation. In the end, she also raised the challenges and confusions encountered in the implementation process, such as the coordination of teaching progress, a limited student audience, cognitive limitations of students, and long intervals between classes.
Zhang Wanyu, a teacher at Beijing No. 166 Middle School, presented the development and implementation of the school’s SSI-L biology course in her talk titled "Design and Implementation of Argumentative Teaching Strategies in SSI Contextual Teaching." Zhang proposed that in biology teaching, teachers should focus on concepts from the curriculum and students’ life experiences to uncover SSI themes. The goal is to develop students’ ability to solve real-world problems and make scientific statements, and to select argumentative teaching strategies based on student characteristics and teaching objectives. She introduced three SSI themes selected by her school and provided detailed introduction to the teaching background, objectives, processes, course designs, and student learning outcomes based on two specific cases— "Arguing the Safety of Genetically Modified Corn" for high school students and "Is Smoking Harmful to Health?" for middle school students.
After the presentations, experts and professors attending the salon commented and exchanged views on the SSI teaching cases shared by the two middle school biology teachers. Professor Li Weihua from South China Normal University first raised questions on the essential characteristics of socio-scientific issues. She emphasized that the controversial and uncertain nature of the issues is the core, and talked about her own ideas and suggestions for the three teaching cases shared by the two teachers in turn. She also discussed with Zhang Wanyu on the SSI teaching case of "Is Smoking Harmful to Health?" Then Professor Han Fei from Anhui Normal University commented on the cases shared by both teachers. She believed that the courses that the two teachers offered had their own characteristics. She also addressed the challenges raised by Fang Ying during the course implementation process one by one, and gave many valuable ideas and suggestions. After that, Professor Zhang Daijing from Henan Normal University shared her views on the teaching cases. She believed that the eight driving questions in Fang Ying’s case have strong logical progression, and the activity design is also progressive, thus generating effective teaching outcomes. She also appreciated that the teaching case shared by Zhang Wanyu was more professional and communicated with Zhang Wanyu around her teaching case. Professor Zhang then proposed that teachers should help students better gatekeep the scientific rigor when designing courses. Next, Zhang Dingwen from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Educational Science Research Institute, shared his understanding of SSI-L based on the previous discussions between these professors and teachers. He also introduced some potential SSI themes and ideas and suggestions on how to evaluate learning outcomes. Following this, he presented a case from Urumqi No. 139 Middle School, the interdisciplinary project design and practice oriented towards "real-world problems"—earthworm composting to improve the soil environment. He also introduced a course on the theme of evolution in the third grade of high school, and the general teaching design and practice. He then shared his reflections and insights from the salon discussions. After that, Professor Han Fei from Anhui Normal University shared a case of "Exploring Invasive Species: Water Bamboo" carried out in the club class with middle school students this summer. Professor Han outlined the course background, the specific learning tasks arranged in actual teaching process, and the expected outcomes for students. She also raised the challenge of balancing the social and scientific aspects that she encountered in the teaching process, seeking advice from the attending experts and professors. Lastly, Han Fei shared her thoughts and reflections on normal university student education, using a teacher education activity on "Whether It Is Necessary to Consume Probiotics in Our Diet" as an example. Following this, under the moderation of Zhou Youxiang, Professor Li Weihua from South China Normal University, Professor Zhang Daijing from Henan Normal University, and Zhang Dingwen from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Educational Science Research Institute focused on the teaching case of the Water Bamboo course shared by Han Fei and had an in-depth exchange and discussion on normal university student education, offering valuable suggestions for improvement.
The meeting concluded with a summary from Professor Lin Jing from Beijing Normal University. She fully acknowledged the value of the SSI teaching cases shared by the teachers, experts, and professors during the salon. She believed that these cases are creative, and provide much inspiration for how socio-scientific issues teaching can be carried out in biology classes. She also expressed her own ideas, suggestions and thoughts around what the teachers have shared. Professor Lin emphasized the value of socio-scientific issues in biology education, proposed concrete suggestions on how to improve students' scientific literacy and comprehensive ability through SSI, and put forward expectations for the future of socio-scientific issue research and practice in biology education.
After the in-depth discussions and exchanges, this meeting gradually came to an end. The speeches of experts, professors and teachers not only reflected their profound understanding of socio-scientific issues in middle school biology teaching, but also showed their deep reflection and forward-looking thinking on educational practice. Through this salon, we have witnessed the immense potential of socio-scientific issues in fostering students’ scientific literacy, interdisciplinary practice, critical thinking, problem-solving ability, and decision-making ability. Socio-scientific issues teaching is not merely about transmitting knowledge, but about stimulating thinking and shaping values. This teaching approach requires continuous updating of educational philosophies and innovation in teaching methods, to meet the needs of modern education in the new era. Moving forward, we look forward to integrating socio-scientific issues more deeply into middle school biology teaching, making them an essential tool for cultivating students' comprehensive abilities.