**1. Introduction**

This chapter is intended to contribute to the academic debate around discussion of socioscientific controversies (SSCs) in science teaching from an integrative perspective.

This study of SSC is situated within the context of a century in which, according to Silva and Cicilini [1], we are witnessing scientific and technological achievements that have been predicted in the past, but more in a tone of science fiction than of reality. These developments have had impacts on society, communication media, and education. The traditional way that Biology is taught has undergone changes and new issues have emerged for discussion, both

within schools and in other spheres of society. Social debate is definitively attracted by problems related to the promises, challenges, and controversies of subjects related to life sciences and technology.

Within this context, Schramm [2] has claimed that we are witnessing a Biological Revolution, some examples of which are already part of citizens' lives, such as in vitro fertilization and implantation of embryos; cloning; the medicines produced by application of biotechnological knowledge; treatments for cancer, for AIDS, and for other pathologies; modification of plants and animals by manipulating and reprogramming their genes; and the fight against the major endemic diseases, hunger, and so on.

As part of this veritable revolution, new scientific capabilities have been acquired, such as, for example, treatment of the genetic information of living beings. This Biological Revolution has not only made it possible to describe and understand life but has also enabled its modification, resulting from a new form of applied knowledge that has resulted from an alliance between the technical sciences of language and the technical sciences of biology [2].

Galvão and Reis [3] argue that nowadays the objective is to integrate scientific knowledge into the students' world, in order to help them understand the objects and events which they encounter every day, attempting to increase their interest in science and scientific activities and to encourage their involvement in processes of discussion and evaluation of socioscientific issues.

These authors state that it is the responsibility of the school and, consequently, the teacher to provide opportunities for discussion of the socioscientific issues that are increasingly part of everyday life. Schools must foster a scientific education that problematizes scientific developments, because, in addition to being necessary, it is an indispensable social duty to present students with science that is more up‐to‐date, historical, social, critical, and human.

Galvão and Reis [3] also point out that the teacher's role includes encouraging students to research and select reliable sources of information; contrast different points of view; seek the knowledge needed to understand a given issue; familiarize themselves with the practices, techniques, and theories of scientists, so that they can be related to their daily lives; to discuss the subjects; to study the benefits they can offer and the harm they can cause; and to critically assess and express opinions on socioscientific issues.

Therefore, the classroom should become a venue for discussion, where the students can participate actively, expressing their interest in and knowledge about the widest variety of subjects, which can be dealt with not merely in relation to scientific knowledge but also in terms of their social meaning and impact. This experience can be accomplished in a variety of different ways and should involve the points of view of distinct social groups, thereby providing a platform for discussion of the constraints on and potentials of participation in socioscientific controversies.

Within the scope of science teaching, the space occupied by this debate has been growing as a result of certain issues that have already attracted the interest of teachers and their students, such as cloning and assisted reproductive techniques. There appears to be the space and opportunity, and even a need, to design a form of science education that is able to, effectively, foster in‐depth discussion of these issues. Working from the objectives of school‐based education in the sciences, we should be developing scientific literacy, in other words, providing training in the sciences that "[…] provides the tools that make it possible to better understand the society in which we live" [4],1 to enable students to take decisions consciously.

This chapter is derived from a doctoral thesis, and its overall objective is "to present the constraints on and potentials of the socioscientific controversies approach, by means of a case study of use of the integrated project teaching method in Science lessons."
