A systematic review of the top-50 most-cited articles on socio-scientific issues in K-12 education

Socio-scientific issues (SSI) has been shown to serve as a useful learning context in K-12 education, not only to help students improve their scientific literacy and develop 21st century skills such as argumentative and decision-making but also to promote students’ sense of self-efficacy and civic responsibility. From the perspective of highly cited papers, combined with the relevance model of science education, this review conducted a systematic review of the top-50 most-cited articles in SSI in K-12 research in the Web of Science database and made a diagnostic evaluation of them according to the relevance model of science education. The results showed that the effects of teaching intervention on the nature of science is the most emphasized theme. High school students are the most focused demographic, and energy is the most highlighted topic. The relevance model of science education shows imbalances in dimensions, imbalances between present and future, and imbalances between intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This review thematically illustrates what is known and what needs to be known for future research of SSI in K-12 education. On this basis, the research trend and future education measures of SSI in K-12 education are put forward, and the further integration of SSI into school education is proposed.