Science Education is civics education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21392785 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nancy Brickhouse (Provost Baylor University Waco Texas USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 106 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 482-483 |
| Publication date | 2022-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0036-8326 • E-ISSN: 1098-237X |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/sce.21710 |
| OpenAlex | W4220682411 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
I am grateful for the work of Glenn Aikenhead and Leo Klopfer spanning 70 years. Their work inspired mine. Rather than focusing instruction on learning current scientific truths and processes for the primary purpose of preparing more scientists, they advocated for learning how scientific communities generate and interrogate scientific claims, how the sciences interact with societies around them, and why it matters to YOU. I discovered their work as a graduate student at Purdue University in the 1980s. Before that, I taught high school science in a rural area of East Texas (where we bused students from 60 miles away). I loved teaching but also struggled to understand why so few fell in love with science in the way I did. It seemed as though there was a single pathway into science, and most students did not find that one way appealing. The curriculum development of Klopfer, Aikenhead, and their counterparts are exemplars of how we might engage a broader range of students in science as well as broaden how students engage in science. While Aikenhead and Klopfer note studies that show the positive impact of these curricular approaches on student understanding, they also note that there has not been widespread adoption of these approaches. Instead, science education has progressed along a pathway that focuses on elite preprofessional training. For many years, the result of this singular pathway alienated many students and some of us argued that it denied science the diversity of talent it needed. Today it appears as though the consequences are even more significantly negative than we may have imagined. The disconnect between scientific communities and ordinary people is now one of our most significant civic problems. The work of Aikenhead and Klopfer continues to be pertinent in the 21st century. It can be argued whether we have enough scientists. But there is no doubt that we need science education and informed citizenry better prepared to engage in the complex and often technical challenges of the current day, climate change, global pandemics, social media, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence, to name just a few. The general public and many of our elected officials do not have a full understanding of how the scientific community is addressing issues like climate change and global pandemics, and this has led to an erosion of trust in our institutions and failure to act with the deliberation and vigor needed to address these challenges. The fact that the use of immunizations, one of the greatest scientific achievements in human history, is being debated during a global pandemic demonstrates a profound failure to prepare the public, our leaders, and the scientific community to communicate effectively and act in concert. Education is not solely to blame, this century has produced enormous private companies and social media platforms which reinforce the kind of tribalism that leads to a loss of shared values, agreed-upon facts, and confidence in institutions. But this unavoidable fact should only redouble our efforts to prepare not just the next generation of scientists, but also an informed citizenry prepared to use sophisticated understandings of the sciences to address our shared and increasingly pressing challenges. I suggest this as the fundamental challenge for today's science educators. The challenge can only be met by harnessing the talents of multiple sectors of society who share a commitment to addressing this challenge. Scholarly journals such as Science Education can provide leadership by providing a forum that articulates and interrogates a view of science education that is also civics education
Civics · Curriculum · Diversity (politics) · Fell · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Science education · Sociology · Work (physics) · Biomedical and Engineering Education · Engineering · Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research · Psychology · Service-Learning and Community Engagement
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |