Socio-scientific issues are “a pedagogical framework that uses debatable, socially related scientific issues as the context for science teaching”. Socio-scientific issues are essential in a contemporary classroom because it allows students to comment on scientific related issues which can prepare them for the future.  SSI also supports the conceptual shifts that develop the NGSS. 
   As a teacher, you need to teach instead of “what to believe” because of the different backgrounds of each student. Each student may be religious therefore, they have a contrasting understanding than what science teaches them. As a teacher teaching what to believe can cancel out their religion. Teachers should teach the science behind everything rather than telling a student what to believe in because it can expand their knowledge. Students can make decisions for themselves and choose to believe what they choose to accept rather than what the teacher tells them to believe in. In those cases, it can confuse younger students and make it difficult to understand what they have learned in their home environment. Students should be allowed to learn new information and decide for themselves. Not only does SSI teach students in the classroom but as well as outside the learning environment. The SSI curriculum also prepares students to be global citizens. According to the book, “teachers help students acquire flexibility, open-mindedness, and perspective-taking abilities so that they can integrate content knowledge with real-world deliberation.” SSI helps students with social and communication skills as well as having students invested in learning. SSI makes students feel connected to what they learn that changes their mindset to make a change.  
   SSI shifted away from the “cookbook” method of teaching to be more helpful. SSI supports 5E instructions because instead of using the “cookbook” method to teach SSI follows steps such as 5E to teach students more effectively. One example of 5E is engaging students before they learn, then they explore new ideas with activities from the lesson. After exploring their ideas, they explain what they learned, and the teacher can elaborate on their understandings or help them if they misinterpreted something. Once they explore the new lesson they can deepen their understandings by explaining what they learned. After the teacher evaluates the student's progess of how well they understood the lesson. 
Universal Design learning is “an educational framework that considers the variability of learners in the classroom and rejects the “one size fits all.” UDL reduces the need for specific accommodations because what helps one person learn can help someone else differently. For example, closed captioning on the television. Closed captioning is not only used for people with hearing loss it can be utilized for people who are trying to learn a different language.