Struggling with students applying concepts meaningfully? Socio-Scientific Inquiry

Problems:

-Students have a hard time transferring science concepts into their everyday lives (and adult lives). 

-Many reasonable people doubt science see National Geographic issue titled "The War on Science"

-Student engagement

One Solution: Socio-Scientific Inquiry (SSI), which is a form of project/problem based learning.

Here's my overview of SSI...(there are hands-on inquiry based lab that are embedded throughout the following steps).  SSI does not throw out high quality lab based instruction.  SSI helps put all those activities into a broader context. 

1.) Engage students with an entry event or video. 
Here is an example of an entry event for a unit "What is the appropriate use of genetic information?" 

2.) Present a driving question. 

Examples include: 

"What role should nuclear power play in a state's reduction of greenhouse gas emissions?"

"What is the appropriate use of genetic information?"

"Should there be an excise tax on meat?"

"Which application of nanotechnology is most worthy of funding?"
"What role should the government play in requiring vaccinations?"

3.) This is where SSI diverges from conventional PBL...  Have an elaborate jigsaw activity where students play different roles within society and generate well evidenced arguments that address the driving question from those positions.

Here is a rubric for developing a presentation, taking notes, and forming a person position statement.
Student must also plan questions to ask other roles after those roles present their position.  Here is a hard scaffold to facilitate students generating questions. 

4.) Student presentations from their assigned roles. See example here of a presentation put together by group of freshman posing as evolutionary biologist against a meat tax. 

5.) Students then formulate their personal positions related to the central question.  They find an audience for that position and address it to that audience.  This insures a high percent of participation of students in creating writing for a real audience.

Complete units available online are at
Meat tax unit materials from the student perspective: tinyurl.com/inmeattax
Genetic laws unit only culminating activity: tinyurl.com/genelaws
Genetic laws unit in entirety: tinyurl.com/genomelaws