Debate on a socioscientific issue: Evaluation of information in a framework of Citizenship Education

Abstract

If citizen participation in decision-making about socioscientific issues is considered as legitimate, the schooling of it should be question. In this research, 11-12 years old students were engaged in a citizens’ conference adapted to the school context. In an aim of Citizenship Education, it is crucial to focus on the documentary expertise. What are the criteria used by students to evaluate documents and information sources? If students were in an evaluative strategy for the content of documents, a few of them evaluated the sources. Information literacy also should be considered in order to enable students to understand the complexity of such issues because of the social and scientific aspects of socioscientific issues.