Pre-service science teachers' evaluations of alternative perspectives on socio-scientific issues: Stem cell and cloning technologies

This study examined how the pre-service science teachers (PSTs) (1)connect some pieces of evidence and the perspectives on stem cell and cloning technologies, (2)evaluate these connections, (3)find plausible competing perspectives on these technologies. The participants were 73 PSTs. A qualitative research design was used, data was collected through PEL diagrams. The data were categorized as erroneous, descriptive, relational, and critical evaluation. The PSTs chose different types of connections between perspectives and evidence texts. Most of their evaluations were descriptive and erroneous. The PSTs' plausibility judgments favored the perspectives supporting the utilization of stem cell and cloning technologies.