Page 130 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

8 Moral–Ethical Character and Science Education 107

Table 1 Presuppositions of ecojustice ethics through socioscientific issues
Ecojustice Ethics through Socioscientific Issues and Reasoning
(i.e., Functional Scientific Literacy)
• SSI advances science education beyond the limits of social justice
• Socioscientific inquiry is better aligned with the professional sector
• Science rarely exists apart from ethical, political, and social judgments

reasoning can better serve as an effective strategy for analyzing the moral and sci-
entific concepts embedded within this issue, developing a sense of character, and
considering obligations to life proper and the physical world we inhabit. We will
describe this idea hereafter as “functional scientific literacy” (Zeidler et al. 2005).
Two assumptions follow: Functional scientific literacy in the pedagogical context
of science education includes moral–ethical inquiry as a part of the larger process
of becoming informed and participating more fully in community decisions, and
school science is a microcosm of the larger worldly domain (Table 1).

GloFish

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish; black fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish (Dr.
Seuss 1960).
Science teachers have used aquarium fish for decades in the classroom to engage
students in lab studies of fish behavior and to cultivate scientific understandings.
A popular fish for scientific studies is the zebrafish (Danio rerio) or zebra danio
because this fish is hardy in aquaria habitats and fairly inexpensive. This fish is also
important for and used extensively in scientific research. The zebrafish is a tropical
species native to South Asia, the streams of the southeastern Himalayan region,
native to streams, canals, ditches, ponds, and lentic waterways in India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar. This fish has been introduced to Japan, Canada,
Australia and the USA. The zebrafish is also noted in countries where it is not
native, perhaps due to people releasing them from aquaria. In the USA, the
zebrafish is cultivated in commercial fish farming operations in Florida. More
recently, scientists at the National University of Singapore, Singapore, developed a
line of GMO or transgenic zebrafish as an ornamental pet (Gong et al. 2003).
Originally the “GloFish” was developed to glow red in the presence of certain
environmental pollutants, therefore serving as a biological sensor that is rapid,
mobile, highly visible, biodegradable, and regenerative. The Starfire Red®
zebrafish expresses a red fluorescent protein from a sea anemone. This glow-red
zebra danio was immediately called one of the “Coolest Inventions of 2003” by
Time Magazine. By December 11, 2003, Yorktown Technologies, L.P. had
announced that it would market GloFish in the USA at the beginning of 2004 with-
out oversight and regulation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or
any other federal agency.