Acquisition and encouragement of decision making processes in science classes

The goal of this investigation is to estimate the influence of science knowledge on everyday decisions of students. Students attended lessons about different topics. Before and after the unit, they filled in questionnaires, some students were additionally interviewed. The evaluation of the data showed, that scientific facts are learned and partially used in the judgements of the students. On the other hand, very few students changed their views – other factors (habits, convenience …) could be identified, that might account for this finding. A theoretical framework is presented and consequences for teaching practice are proposed.