Finn Kristen Matthiesen ^1* Gina Nolte ¹ Finn Rehling ² I Gede Arjana ³ Lola Utama Sitompul ⁴ Upik Yelianti ⁵ Susanne Bögeholz ^1,6

• ¹ Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Goettingen, Germany
• ² Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
• ³ Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Ganesha University of Education, Singaraja, Indonesia
• ⁴ Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Ganesha University of Education, Singaraja, Indonesia
• ⁵ Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Jambi, Jambi, Indonesia
• ⁶ Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

Pre-service teachers’ (PST) perceived relevance of learning about environmental socioscientific issues (SSI) can be an indicator for their motivation to act as change agents. Until now, science education (research) has often addressed the relevance for learning about SSI insufficiently differentiated regarding spatial and social dimensions. However, theoretical frameworks suggest that such differentiation enhances meaningful teaching and learning. This study investigated how local, national, and global subdimensions of spatial relevance as well as individual, societal, and professional subdimensions of social relevance influence PST’ relevance perceptions of learning about SSI. Additionally, we examined how relevance perceptions vary depending on whether the SSI is local or nonlocal to the PST’ university. We specifically investigated Indonesian PST’ relevance perceptions of learning about oil palm management (OPM), a local SSI for PST of one university and a nonlocal SSI for PST of two other universities. The PST participated in a five-week socioscientific inquiry-based educational unit on OPM embedded in curricular courses (N=111). We followed a mixed-method approach, employing measurements of utility value. Utility value is a specific construct of perceived relevance, which refers to the usefulness of learning about objects for a person’s life, profession, and society. Quantitatively, we conducted pretest-posttest-follow-up surveys on PST’ perceived utility value for learning about OPM over time. Qualitatively, we analyzed responses to a utility value reflection task that was integrated into the unit. Overall, the unit increased PST’ utility value over time. Local PST perceived lower utility value for learning about OPM than nonlocal PST. In the task responses, local PST referred more to the local subdimension, whereas nonlocal PST referred more to the national subdimension. Nonlocal PST societal and professional utility value increased stronger over time compared to local PST. We discuss potential reasons for local PST’ lower relevance perceptions, e.g., personal experiences and skepticism through local embeddedness. Our findings on spatial and social relevance perceptions among local and nonlocal PST underscore the importance of spatial- and social-sensitive SSI education. We point out practical implications for promoting relevance perceptions considering local and nonlocal PST. Moreover, we suggest future research directions for more differentiated relevance research in science education.