This article addresses the role of imagination in social work education, practice, and research. Following a brief discussion of terms, the author attempts to identify the various contributions of human imagination to social change processes. The second part presents the argument that the cultural structure known as Social Darwinism significantly…

This study uses history of science in teaching natural sciences from the early grades. The theoretical framework used is Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), which is a theory with expanding applications in different fields of science. The didactical scenario, in which history of science is used in a CHAT context, refers to Newton's…

This paper is about the relationship between Marxism, Science and Worldviews. In Section I, the paper gives a descriptive definition of the scientific viewpoint based on a materialist ontology, a realist epistemology, and the recognition that science is a social activity. The paper shows in Section II that there are currents in contemporary…

In this paper I respond to Ajay Sharma's "Portrait of a Science Teacher as a Bricoleur: A case study from India," by speaking to two aspects of the bricoleur: the subject and the discursive in relation to pedagogic perspective. I highlight that our subjectivities are negotiated based on the desires of the similar and competing discourses…

The use of hybridity today suggests a less coherent, unified and directed process than that found in the Enlightenment science's cultural imperialism, but regardless of this neither concept exists outside power and inequality. Hence, hybridity raises the question of the terms of the mixture and the conditions of mixing. Cultural hybridity produced…

This paper provides a critical review essay of Ajay Sharma's "Portrait of a science teacher as a bricoleur: A case study from India." The main focus is two fold. First, arguments are presented to draw attention to how little advances in science teaching and science learning research have impacted teachers' practice and student…

In this paper, in response to Ajay Sharma's paper titled "Portrait of a science teacher as a bricoleur: A case study from India" and associated reviews, I address the value of bridging two narrative styles for describing teacher development, discuss questions of over-essentializing an Indian school context, propose that teacher and…

In this response to commentaries by Ali Sammel, Jhumki Basu and Alberto Rodriguez, I present my perspective on three important issues raised by the commentators. These issues relate to the role of a researcher in her field settings and society, the critique of science and science education as oppressive dominant discourses, and co-opting…