Representing science education in UK newspapers : a case study on the controversy surrounding teaching the theory of evolution and creationism in science classes

The thesis examines representations of science education in UK newspapers and focuses on the role of expert sources in a controversy about the teaching of creationism alongside the theory of evolution in science classrooms. The newspaper reporting revolved around the City Technology College Emmanuel College in Gateshead, mainly in Spring 2002. The empirical research focused on two connected media elements: newspaper content and newspaper production. A quantitative and qualitative approach to analysing media content examined 287 newspaper articles from 20 UK newspapers, from I January 2002 to 20 February 2004, inclusive. The production analysis was based on semi-structured interviews with media professionals. The analysis of media content shows that the debate around Emmanuel College consisted of several related controversial issues. A range of expert sources were quoted in the articles, using various argumentation lines to address the issues of the controversy. The way expert sources were described by the journalists mainly seemed to enhance the credibility of those supporting the scientific consensus. Further analysis shows that some experts formed heterogeneousc oalitions of experts calling for action. Collaborative networks of experts appeared as efforts to enhance credibility and gain access to the media. The evidence presented in this thesis points to the importance of understanding expertise not only in individual but also in collective terms and to investigate expertise in terms of the argumentation lines reported. The analysis of semistructured interviews with media professionals demonstrates that the specialism of correspondents (e. g. on covering science or education) could influence which expert sources were selected, how they were represented and whether newspaper accounts were balanced or not. This influenced how reports were framed. Overall, the thesis demonstrates a more complex conceptualisation of expertise, one where experts are mobilised to conduct boundary work in key sites: media reporting and the National Curriculum for Science

Hollywood heroes in high tech risk societies: modern fairy tales and emerging technologies

Science, research and emerging technologies often play a key role in many modern action movies. In this contribution we suggest to use genre analysis of folk narratives as an innovative and useful tool for understanding science and technology in action movies. In this contribution we outline our approach using illustrative examples and detail how understanding action movies as modern fairy tales can benefit the study of science, research and technology in popular culture.publishedVersio

Navigating Knowledge Landscapes in the digital society: a look back and visions for the future

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The emergence of the controversy around the theory of evolution and creationism in UK newspaper reports

The question of whether religious explanations about the origin of life should be taught alongside scientific accounts in compulsory science education has sparked controversy in several countries for decades. An important site for these controversies is media reporting. This paper presents the results of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of UK national and regional newspaper coverage from 2002. The sampled articles reported the controversy about teaching creationism in science classes alongside the theory of evolution at Emmanuel College, Gateshead, UK. The results describe how the National Curriculum for Science was represented in these articles, in particular how scientific controversies were initially described and revised as the public debate developed. Furthermore, the article documents the mobilisation of a range of actors who used media reporting as an important channel to argue their case about this issue. It is argued that media reporting of creationism/evolution was an important factor in framing public debate about these issues, influencing, in part, the debate over which controversial science-based topics should be taught as part of the National Curriculum for Science