Socioscientific issues (SSI) can be described as dilemmas that do not have a clear-cut solution and include technology, science, and ethics in fundamental (Sadler, 2010; Topcu et al., 2004). According to Kolstø (2001), students who participate in SSI are aware of the significance of science in everyday life and the ability to interpret scientific information critically. The situations discussed in SSI appear in daily life and are interpreted depending on the individuals' cultural accumulation, beliefs, and knowledge.  For this reason, different opinions, suggestions, and solutions in case SSI are discussed in science lessons. Understanding the connections inherent in SSI is crucial to becoming a scientific literate individual since scientific literacy includes informed decision making, the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information; dealing sensibly with moral reasoning and ethical issues, which are significant features in the 21^st century (Zeidler, 2001). The teaching of SSI, which removes science courses from being a field where only scientific knowledge is transferred and information to be used in applied sciences, enables students to look critically at social, scientific, and global problems, produce solutions and evaluate the current issue using evidence. In this way, it can be ensured that each student is a conscious citizen and science literate. As a result of scientific literacy, the ability to reconcile scientific reasoning with real-world scenarios, analyze scientific information, think skeptically, and the moral and ethical consequences of decisions can be listed (Zeidler & Kahn, 2014). In this way, it can be ensured that future scientists are given basic skills such as handling a situation from different aspects and comparing scientific findings at an early age. The teacher can enable students to discuss their existing knowledge, experiences, and beliefs within the framework of SSI based on scientific evidence.

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is necessary for science teachers (Bayram‐Jacobs et al., 2019). Teachers should develop pedagogical content knowledge to help students integrate science knowledge with SSI for evidence-based thinking and reasoning in each context (Bayram‐Jacobs et al., 2019). When we consider the literature, it is clearly stated that teachers face some difficulties while using different skills and pedagogy, organizing classroom differently, introducing practices like argumentation, focusing on the competencies and values, assessing SSI learning, using information and knowledge from outside their scientific domains while implementing and teaching SSI. These difficulties (what teachers do) can be explained with PCK (what teachers know). While using SSI in science lessons, sufficient pedagogical content knowledge can help teachers overcome these difficulties (Bayram‐Jacobs et al., 2019). The most significant factor that will enable teachers to be enthusiastic to change and develop is self-efficacy (Topçu et al., 2014). Teachers' low self-efficacy towards SSI subjects can be cited as to why teachers are reluctant to use these subjects in their lessons despite the integration of SSI subjects into the curriculum. In addition, the fact that teachers do not take university-level courses on these subjects is likely to lead to a feeling of inadequacy and low self-efficacy in terms of practice and subject matter knowledge. However, there are objectives in the curriculum that should be provided to students on SSI subjects. Also, as revealed in international and national studies, teachers' content knowledge on SSI subjects is lower than expected (Topçu et al., 2014). Therefore, science teachers need to change their instructional approaches to student-centered ones to prevent a challenge in implementing SSI-based lessons. In order to have sufficient knowledge about student-centered approaches to assist students, teachers should know socioscientific issues and practice them in their classrooms. In this study, teachers’ practices with SSI-based lessons were investigated by considering their PCK and self–efficacy regarding SSI teaching.

A qualitative research approach was used in this study. The qualitative data was collected via interviews to investigate challenges in designing and implementing SSI-based lessons and experiences of in-service science teachers. Moreover, the reasons for having challenges and possible suggestions to overcome them were also examined. Four in-service science teachers participated in the study voluntarily. All of them were female. While 2 of these teachers took SSI-based courses during undergraduate education, the other two did not. All four teachers teach at the secondary school level (grades 5-8), and the year of experience varied between 3 and 13 years on average. While 2 of these teachers work in public schools, the other two teachers work in private schools. The interviews were conducted with four in-service teachers. The researchers developed an interview protocol by using the literature review. Expert opinion was taken, and necessary revisions were done. The final interview protocol included 22 questions in a semi-structured format. The interview protocol questions were divided into two themes. The first theme is about in-service science teachers’ background experiences. The second theme is about the experiences of in-service science teachers in designing and implementing SSI-based lessons. This theme is divided into five categories: personal opinions about SSI and SSI curriculum, SSI teaching experiences in undergraduate years and after graduation, experiences in preparing SSI-based lesson plans, emotional experiences, and suggestions. Both face-to-face meetings and online meetings were held for interviews. Each session lasted an average of 30 minutes. In order to analyze data, a constant comparison data analysis technique was used. This technique was used to compare each incident within and between transcribed interviews. While constantly comparing the incidents, the codes, categories, and themes were constructed.

Significant findings obtained through interviews are provided shortly here. When in-service teachers were asked about integrating SSI-based lessons into science courses, teachers generally stated that SSI lessons are essential for science education. They also argued that SSI topics could improve students' daily life experiences and remedy potential misconceptions. The teachers thought that SSI-based lesson plans improve students' critical thinking, research, and communication skills. In addition, one of the teachers stated that she gives importance to updating her knowledge during lesson plan preparation. She finds it essential to recommend reliable sources to students for argumentation. All of them agreed that SSI-based lessons increase students’ positive attitudes towards science, the development of scientific thinking skills, and the ability to produce scientifically-based ideas from different perspectives. During the implementation of the SSI-based lesson plans, the teachers stated constraints related to time, the limited materials, and the large class size. They also indicated problems regarding conveying their possible misconceptions to students and students' failure to keep up with the argumentation by considering different SSI perspectives. In conclusion, two of the teachers we interviewed stated that they did not take courses to teach SSI-based classes during their undergraduate education. Compared to the teachers who indicated that they took lessons for the teaching of SSI-based courses, it was observed that the teachers who did not take these courses did not know how to integrate SSI topics into the practice. In this context, as all the participants of this study agreed, teaching these subjects during undergraduate education in teacher education should be included in teacher education programs. Microteachings focused on SSI-based argumentation would be an excellent chance for them to gain the necessary experience. The SSI-based lesson will also help students learn how scientific knowledge is obtained and rebuttal using scientific evidence.

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