Public debate often centers on issues that affect our lives and which reflect interests of
various social groups and scientific communities, leading to controversies about what we
may call socially acute questions (SAQs). In this paper we focus on two SAQs linked to
the dominant model of meat production and consumption in Western countries, namely
its impact on the environment and the health problems associated with high-meat diets.
Given the importance of education in relation to these SAQs, our main objectives here
were to examine the extent to which a Cartography of Controversy (CoC) approach is a
useful tool for exploring and visualizing the views and ideas of preservice teachers about
the controversies associated with this model of meat production and consumption, and to
compare their initial maps with our own, one that is informed by a more detailed socioepistemological
analysis. As a complement to this inquiry, we also present the SAQ–Eating
Meat project, the aim of which is to encourage citizens to reflect on how food production
and consumption may impact health and the environment, and then to take action toward
change. In comparison with our own map, those produced by students did not reflect the
full complexity of the controversies surrounding the dominant model of meat production
and consumption, and some actants were missing. The results nevertheless suggest that
a CoC approach is a useful way of engaging students with SAQs and that it offers them
a framework in which to extend their inquiry and knowledge, providing a platform from
which they may move toward taking action for change.
