Learning dispositions as a lens for teaching socioscientific issues: Attitudes of university biology students towards animal experimentation
- 1Biology Education, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany
Abstract
Attitudes towards socioscientific issues (SSIs) represent crucial learning dispositions, as they can influence the students’ willingness to engage with SSIs. Animal experimentation is a particularly contentious SSI, with attitudes ranging from rejection to acceptance. They are influenced by external factors (e.g., research context, test animal) and internal factors (e.g., knowledge, ethical aspects). Understanding these attitudes is essential for fostering reflective engagement with SSIs in higher education. This study (N = 503) examines self-reported attitudes of pre-service teacher biology students and non-pre-service teacher biology students towards three contexts: animal experimentation with nonhuman primates, animal experimentation with other test animals, and behavioural research with nonhuman primates. It also explores the internal factors underlying these attitudes. Students’ attitudes differed across contexts: animal experimentation with nonhuman primates was viewed most critically, while behavioural research was perceived most favourably. Pre-service teacher students expressed more ambivalent and negative attitudes than non-pre-service teacher students. Regarding internal factors, a clear explanatory pattern emerged: “pro” attitudes were mainly explained by knowledge, “ambivalent” attitudes by conditions (e.g., the necessity of the research), and “contra” attitudes by ethical aspects. Pre-service teacher students consistently explained their attitudes with more references to knowledge than non-pre-service teacher students. These findings highlight the need for evidence-based integration of learning dispositions into science (teacher) higher education that explicitly addresses the SSI animal experimentation.
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BibTeX
@article{dischereit2026learning,
title = {{Learning dispositions as a lens for teaching socioscientific issues: Attitudes of university biology students towards animal experimentation}},
author = {Jacqueline Dischereit and Susanne Bögeholz},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0358949},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358949},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Learning dispositions as a lens for teaching socioscientific issues: Attitudes of university biology students towards animal experimentation
AU - Jacqueline Dischereit
AU - Susanne Bögeholz
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0358949
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358949
AB - Attitudes towards socioscientific issues (SSIs) represent crucial learning dispositions, as they can influence the students’ willingness to engage with SSIs. Animal experimentation is a particularly contentious SSI, with attitudes ranging from rejection to acceptance. They are influenced by external factors (e.g., research context, test animal) and internal factors (e.g., knowledge, ethical aspects). Understanding these attitudes is essential for fostering reflective engagement with SSIs in higher education. This study (N = 503) examines self-reported attitudes of pre-service teacher biology students and non-pre-service teacher biology students towards three contexts: animal experimentation with nonhuman primates, animal experimentation with other test animals, and behavioural research with nonhuman primates. It also explores the internal factors underlying these attitudes. Students’ attitudes differed across contexts: animal experimentation with nonhuman primates was viewed most critically, while behavioural research was perceived most favourably. Pre-service teacher students expressed more ambivalent and negative attitudes than non-pre-service teacher students. Regarding internal factors, a clear explanatory pattern emerged: “pro” attitudes were mainly explained by knowledge, “ambivalent” attitudes by conditions (e.g., the necessity of the research), and “contra” attitudes by ethical aspects. Pre-service teacher students consistently explained their attitudes with more references to knowledge than non-pre-service teacher students. These findings highlight the need for evidence-based integration of learning dispositions into science (teacher) higher education that explicitly addresses the SSI animal experimentation.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -