New Science Education Researchers in Dialogue: Impressions of our Field

Dialogue forms an important tool for two early career researchers concerned with science education and making sense of what they see as driving forces in research. Tensions between theory and practice, induction of the individual into educational research cultures, issues of equity, and the purposes and pitfalls of educational research become the structure of a reflective dialogue. The process of meta-reflection hurtles the authors into a better understanding of their current positions in relation to science education and thereby becomes an empowering way for the authors to begin to gain insight and understanding into their place(s) in the research community

A Educação em Ciências precisa de manifestos

As a science teacher educator, manifestos are usually something I have students write. Manifestos are bold forms of expression that help earnest people formulate a focussed or principled stance on important issues. This special issue has provided an opportunity to write a short manifesto of my own; and it is good practice to do the things you want your students to do. In times of increasing environmental and social precarity, science and science education can no longer deny the moral and ethical imperative to be relevant to the survival of both human and nonhuman life. What follows is a manifesto that addresses some of what science education needs to grapple with in times of right-wing populism, pandemic, pollution, and political need. It’s not intended to be a platform, because science education needs many manifestos of desire and intent. The best this manifesto can do is encourage teachers and students to write more inspiring ones. The language of manifestos is highly variable, but generally it take things like declaration and affect more seriously, and leaves the important tasks of elaboration and consensus for another day. This manifesto has been organized into eight parts that together maintain that science, education, environment, and politics are necessarily entangled, such that the time where one could pretend that the sciences are separate from, and/or superior to, everything else has passed. Second, that boundaries separating things like disciplines, different species, and different ways of knowing the world are proving to be more arbitrary and less useful than ever. Manifestos, which are unabashedly political and morally invested, are just one of a multitude of unorthodox transdisciplinary manifestations coming to science educational communities everywhere!Como educador de professores de ciências, manifestos geralmente são algo que peço aos alunos que escrevam. Manifestos são formas ousadas de expressão que ajudam as pessoas sérias a formular posicionamentos, centrados ou baseados em princípios, sobre questões importantes. Esta edição especial ofereceu-me a oportunidade de escrever meu próprio manifesto; é uma boa prática fazer as coisas que você deseja que seus alunos façam. Em tempos de crescente precariedade ambiental e social, a ciência e a educação científica não podem mais negar o imperativo moral e ético de serem relevantes para a sobrevivência da vida humana e não humana. O que se segue é um manifesto que aborda parte do que a educação científica precisa enfrentar em tempos de populismo de direita, pandemia, poluição e dificuldades políticas. Não se destina a ser uma plataforma, porque a educação científica precisa de muitos manifestos de desejo e intenções. O melhor que este manifesto pode fazer é encorajar professores e alunos a escreverem outros mais inspiradores. A linguagem dos manifestos é altamente variável, mas geralmente levam coisas como declarações e afetos mais a sério e deixam as importantes tarefas de elaboração e consenso para outro dia. Este manifesto foi organizado em oito partes que, juntas, sustentam que ciência, educação, meio ambiente e política estão necessariamente emaranhados, de modo que é passado o tempo em que se poderia fingir que as ciências são separadas e / ou superiores a todo o restante. Em segundo lugar, defende-se que as fronteiras que separam coisas como disciplinas, espécies diferentes e maneiras diferentes de conhecer o mundo estão se revelando mais arbitrárias e menos úteis do que nunca. Manifestos, que são descaradamente políticos e moralmente investidos, são apenas um de uma multidão de manifestações transdisciplinares heterodoxas que chegam às comunidades educacionais de ciência em todos os lugares

How Discourses of Biology Textbooks Work to Constitute Subjectivity: From the Ethical to the Colonial

This thesis examines how discourses of biology textbooks can work to constitute various kinds of subjectivities. Using a Foucauldian archaeological approach to discourse analysis I examine how four Ontario secondary school biology textbooks discursively delimit what can be thought and acted upon, and in the process work to partially constitute students/teachers as sex/gendered; neocolonial; neoliberal (and a subject of work), and ethical subjects and subjectivities. This thesis engages the topic of how discourse can constitute subjectivity in science in three basic ways: First, on a theoretical level, in terms of working out an understanding of subject constitution/interpellation that would also be useful when engaging with other sociopolitical and ethical questions in science education. Secondly, in terms of an empirically based critical discourse analysis that examines how various statements within these four textbooks could set limits on what is possible for students to think and act upon in relation to themselves, science, and the world. Thirdly, this thesis represents a narrative of scholarly development that moves from an engagement of my personal experiences in science education and current science education literature towards the general politico-philosophical topic of subjectivity and biopolitics. This thesis begins with a discussion of my experiences as a science teacher, a review of relevant science education literature, and considerations of subjectivity that relate specifically ii to the specific methodological approach I employ when examining these textbooks. After this I present five chapters, each of which can be thought of as a somewhat separate analysis concerning how the discourses of these textbooks can work to constitute specific subjectivities (each involving different theoretical/methodological considerations). I conclude with a reflection/synthesis chapter and a call to see science education as a site for biopolitical struggle.Ph

Ethics and science education : how subjectivity matters

Comprend des références bibliographiques.This book encapsulates a line of research that looks at how students are positioned as ethical actors/decision makers in biology education by science policy, curriculum, and classroom resources. Its basis comes from a textbook study that examined how biology texts work to constitute subjectivities related to neoliberalism and global capitalism, sex/gender and sexuality, and ethics. The study found that textbook discourses set limits on a) the types of ethical concerns represented b) the modes of ethical engagement c) the dispositions necessary to engage in ethical action or decision-making. Policy reform, regulation, and personal lifestyle choices were the primary ways students could approach ethical decision-making or action. While these approaches are useful, they are likely not sufficient for dealing with major twenty first century problems such as climate change and social inequality, along with new ethical dimensions introduced by biotechnologies and genomic research. This research brief sets a context for how discourses of science education policy and curricula work to shape a 'subject of ethics', that is how students come to see themselves as participants in issues of ethical concern. Drawing from a structural-poststructural philosophical approach, Science and Technology Studies, educational research, and a methodology based on discourse analysis and ethnography, this book's overall goal is to assist with research into subjectivity, ethics, politics, policy, and socioscientific issues in science education.Chapter 1: Science Education as a Site of Struggle -- Chapter 2: The Constitution of Subjectivities: Discourse, Practices, and Repetition -- Chapter 3: The 'Ethical Subject' of Science Education -- Chapter 4: Science Education and Subjectivity in (Bio)political Context -- Chapter 5: Egalitarian Politics and the Dimensions of An Ethical Self -- Afterword: Different concepts and tools to bring about an ethically and politically engaged science education.

Politics, Imagination, and the Problem of Antiquation : Embracing Old and New Materialisms

Political imagination has never been more important, yet it is very often foreclosed in conservative educational spaces. It’s important to question the occlusion of political imagination from both science and education on a general level—something STEM-types are actively discouraged from thinking about. In order for education fields to progress and face the crises of our century there must be space to dream/think/imagine ‘the political’ along infinite horizons. This essay is an attempt to clear some space for political imagination by problematizing quick dismissals of older critical perspectives (e.g. materialisms), and suggests that any turn to ontology needs to be continually interpreted and politicized. Giving space to politics and imagination is vital as educators dream about different futures in the ruins of capitalism. This paper speaks to the ‘ontological turn’ that is still occurring in various academic disciplines in the humanities and social sciences

(re)considering Foucault for science education research: considerations of truth, power and governance

This article is a response to Anna Danielsonn, Maria Berge, and Malena Lidar’s paper, ‘‘Knowledge and power in the technology classroom: a framework for studying teachers and students in action’’, and an appeal to science educators of all epistemological orientations to (re)consider the work of Michel Foucault for research in science education. Although this essay does not come close to outlining the importance of Foucault’s work for science education, it does present a lesser-known side of Foucault as an anti-polemical, realist, modern philosopher interested in the way objective knowledge is entangled with governance in modernity. This latter point is important for science educators, as it is the intersection of objective knowledge and institutional imperatives that characterizes the field(s) of science education. Considering the lack of engagement with philosophy and social theory in science education, this paper offers one of many possible readings of Foucault (we as authors have also published different readings of Foucault) in order to engage crucial questions related to truth, power, governance, discourse, ethics and education

Talking about the Tar Sands: From environmental education to cultural politics

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From PhD student to teacher educator: Critical reflections through dialogue

Dialogue forms an important tool for two teacher education program assistants (TEPAs) and doctoral candidates concerned with negotiating their new (anticipated) roles in teacher education. Using Immanuel Kant’s notion of public and private reason as a philosophical approach, the authors attempt to make sense of their experiences of working with teacher candidates and the various expectations of teacher education in a large faculty of education. Tensions between critical forms of research and the political realities inherent in teacher education, induction of an individual into teacher training cultures, become the structure of a reflective dialogue. Reflective dialogue eases the authors into a better understanding of their current positions in relation to the theoretical spaces of research and the roles and expectations of teacher education

“Enough has yet to be said”: Dialoguing neoliberal ideology, pedagogy, and subjectivity in science education

This paper endeavours to discuss further the pressing issue of neoliberalism (along with the accompanyingrealities of consumerism and globalization) and its pervasiveness in the field of science education. A numberof recently published science education journal issues (CSSE, JRST and soon to be Science & Education)have significantly opened and exposed issues in science education concerning neoliberalism andconsumerism in the context of globalization and global capitalism. This significant shift in the scienceeducation literature has brought forth diverse voices about/against neoliberalism along with differentapproaches to research in the field of science education. The goal of this paper is to contribute to thisdiscourse by joining post-structural and pedagogical voices for change in science education. We discussspecifically the usefulness of the post-structural subject, some aspects of the field of science education, andthe power of pedagogical approaches concerning neoliberalism in the form of dialogue. The authors, twodoctoral students from Canada and Greece, bring forth both divergent and convergent perspectives and indoing so create new understandings between themselves regarding the relationships between neoliberalism,science education, pedagogy and post-structuralism

Posthuman assemblages and the intimacy of theory: A conversation with Noel Gough

The following conversation is a semi-open interview with critical education scholar Noel Gough that aims to get at how critical/social theory, more specifically some aspects of the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari can be deployed in science education. Noel Gough’s work has opened the way for other critical scholars in science education to attack fundamental problems and dilemmas related to knowledge, structure, and the control of thought and conduct. Our conversation takes a few twists, but ultimately we ask Noel to elaborate on the role of critical theory in science and education.