Pupils’ Understanding about Responsible Research and Innovation

Abstract

Educating a responsible and ethically sensitive citizen is a challenging task, and pupils should be offered the opportunity to exercise these qualities such as evaluating the ethical issues of nanotechnology. In the European Union, the concept of responsible research and innovation (RRI) was developed to connect both the scientific and industrial processes and their outcomes with the values, needs and expectations of society. RRI helps teachers and pupils engage with scientists, educators, museum workers and the public in doing research and innovations as part of school projects. The aim of the study was to examine how RRI dimensions were understood by Finnish pupils grade five and seven (ages 11-12 and 13-14). The results indicate that the pupils’ ideas about RRI are rather difficult to measure; there was no substantial variation in the pupils’ answers to the RRI questionnaire. Because the results indicated that learning to act in a socially responsible way should not take place only inside a classroom.