RT Journal Article
T1 Preservice primary teachers’ positions on nuclear power before and after a role play.
A1 Cruz-Lorite, Isabel María
A1 Cebrián-Robles, Daniel
A1 Acebal, María del Carmen
A1 Blanco-López, Ángel
K1 Profesores - Formación profesional
K1 Profesores - Opiniones sobre energía nuclear
AB Role-playing games (RPGs) are considered a useful way of addressing socioscientific issues (SSIs) in the science classroom insofar as they allow learners to engage with an issue and possibly change their opinions on it. This study analyses changes in preserv-ice primary teachers (PPTs) personal positions on nuclear energy following participa-tion in an RPG that simulated a televised debate about the proposal to close nuclear power plants in Spain. The 78 PPTs had to state their position on this issue both before and after the RPG, choosing from among the following three options: (i) immediate closure of nuclear plants, (ii) gradual phasing out of nuclear plants or (iii) continuing indefinitely with nuclear plants. The majority of students were initially against the future use of nuclear energy, but almost half changed their position following the RPG. Students' initial personal position and the extent to which this disagreed with the posi-tion they had to defend in role were factors related to opinion change, both in terms of its direction (towards a position more in favour of or more against nuclear power) and its magnitude (abrupt: from one extreme position to the other; or moderate: from the intermediate to an extreme position, or vice-versa). The analysis also showed that stu-dents' personal position after the RPG tended to be closer to that of the role they had portrayed. These aspects should be borne in mind when designing RPGs to address SSIs in the science classroom.
PB Journal of Turkish Science Education
YR 2023
FD 2023-10-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/27768
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/27768
LA eng
NO Cruz-Lorite,I.  M., Cebrián-Robles, D., Acebal-Expósito,  M.C.,&  Blanco-López,  A. (2023). Preservice primary teachers’ positions on nuclear power before and after a role play. Journal  of  Turkish  Education, 20(3), 379-398 doi.org/10.36681/tused.2023.02
NO This study was funded by the European Social Fund and Spain’s National Research Agency through the researcher training contract PRE2018-083328, as part of the Excellence in R+D project “De-veloping the competences of secondary and university students in relation to everyday problems through the scientific practices of argumentation, inquiry and modelling” (EDU2017-82197-P), and by the Spanish National Plan R+D+i Project, entitled “Citizens with critical thinking: A challenge for teach-ers in science education” (PID2019-105765GA-I00). We would also like to thank Alan Nance for his contribution to revising and editing the manuscript.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 24 ene 2026