ERIC Number: ED615265
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-
EISSN: N/A
Promoting Students' Critical and Active Engagement in Socio-Scientific Problems: Inter-Trans-National Perspectives
Bencze, Larry; Carter, Lyn; Groleau, Audrey; Krstovic, Mirjan; Levinson, Ralph; Martin, Jenny; Martins, Isabel; Pouliot, Chantal; Weinstein, Matthew
Contributions from Science Education Research, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) (12th, Dublin, Ireland, Aug 21-25, 2017)
There are many potential harms to individuals, societies and environments associated with powerful "networks" of living, nonliving and symbolic entities (actants), such as financiers, banks, think tanks, transnational trade organizations and agreements, competitiveness, scientists, engineers, universities, governments, military, advertisements, entertainment, etc. Among myriad harms, perhaps the most serious is devastation from climate change linked to fossil fuel uses. Given apparent roles of many governments in supporting powerful problematic networks that involve fields of science and technology, many scholars recommend that school science not only enlighten students about harms and encourage them to make logical personal decisions about associated controversies but also prepare them to take socio-political "actions" that might contribute to their conceptions of a better world. In this chapter, international science education scholars discuss their uses and analyses of the 'STEPWISE' curricular and pedagogical framework--which is intended to facilitate such critical and activist science education. After a theoretical defence of the framework, a description is provided of a teacher's 3-year efforts to use it in his secondary school science teaching. This is followed by five summaries of theoretical analyses of the framework by scholars from five countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, the UK and the USA), including in terms of discursive psychology, neoliberalism, critical discourse analyses of well-being, inquiry-based learning, professional development and network mobilization in informal (online gaming) and formal school science and teacher education contexts. The chapter concludes with a brief summary of some relative merits of the STEPWISE framework and with a call for continued critical reflective practice. [For the complete volume, "Bridging Research and Practice in Science Education: Selected Papers from the ESERA 2017 Conference. Contributions from Science Education Research. Volume 6," see ED615249.]
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Science and Society, Neoliberalism, Inquiry, Activism, Science Education, Discourse Analysis, Well Being, Active Learning, Faculty Development, Informal Education, Teacher Education
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Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia; Brazil; Canada; United Kingdom; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A