When Gender and Place of Residence Matter: Informal Reasoning on Technology, Culture and Daily Routine‐based Socioscientific Issues

This study examined pre-service elementary teachers’ (PET) informal reasoning across technology-, culture-, and daily routine‐based socioscientific issues (SSI), considering gender and residential area. A total of forty-one PET participated in the study. The data were collected through socioscientific scenarios developed by the researchers and analyzed in terms of reasoning patterns and types. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed significant variations in informal reasoning across different SSI contexts and demographics, suggesting that using diverse socioscientific contexts can enhance students’ informal reasoning and support science education’s aim of developing informed decision-makers.