Implementation of science-technology-society (STS) strategies: biology teachers’ perceptions

When what is important to learn changes in a short distance of time, especially in the course of a generation, it becomes much more difficult to know what should be taught and how it should be taught. Currently it is still difficult to implement student-centred strategies in the classroom. However, the numerous social, cultural and cognitive differences compel teachers to adopt strategies that lead to the development of the skills required in the science curriculum. Through this study we sought to diagnose the difficulties, advantages and perceptions that biology teachers experience when conceiving and implementing Science-Technology-Society (STS) strategies in 12 grade classes, in secondary education, in Portugal. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted with secondary biology teachers. Later these were transcribed verbatim and subsequently content analysis was carried out using NVivo software. Despite some teachers’ difficulties, the advantages, in particular the motivation and involvement of students that this teaching perspective enables, leads the instructor to continue conceiving and implementing STS strategies.