by Carter, Lyn; Dediwalage, Ranjith

It is impossible to consider contemporary science education in isolation from globalisation as the dominant logic, rethinking and reconfiguring social and cultural life in which it is located. Carter (J Res Sci Teach 42, 561–580, 2005) calls for a close reading of policy documents, curriculum projects, research studies and a range of other science education texts using key concepts from globalisation theory to elucidate the ways in which globalisation shapes and is expressed within science education. In this paper, we consider an example from our own practice of a school-based curriculum project, Sustainable Living by the Bay, as one such instance. The first section reviews neoliberalism and neoconservativism necessary to understand how globalisation penetrates education, while the second outlines aspects of the curriculum project itself. As there were many different facets to the development and implementation of a project like Sustainable Living by the Bay, there is space only to elaborate two examples of the globalisation discourse. The first example concerns the government policy initiative that funded the project while the second example focuses on learner- centred pedagogies as globalisation’s pedagogies of choice.

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-009-9248-8
Online Date: 2/10/2010
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by Tobin, Kenneth

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-010-9254-x
Online Date: 1/20/2010
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by Settelmaier, Elisabeth

In this paper I respond to Long’s paper in which he uses an ethnographic snapshot of a rally of scientists against the perceived ‘dumbing down’ effect of the new Answers in Genesis Museum in Kentucky to raise educational concerns about the effects of creationist influence on the science curriculum in American schools. In my response I contextualise the conflict between creationists and evolutionists in the history of the Christian Churches and in my own personal history. Furthermore I illustrate how historically there been multiple versions and interpretations of the creation story in the past resulting in much conflict and angst. Finally I suggest an integral perspective that allows us to envisage a curriculum that presents multiple perspectives to students as a possible alternative to epistemological narrow-mindedness.

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-009-9250-1
Online Date: 1/14/2010
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by Seals, Mark A.

In David Long’s article, Scientists at Play in a Field of the Lord, he studies the discourse between a network of regional scientists, atheists, activists and evolutionists at the opening of The Creation Museum on Memorial Day, 2007. This review essay examines the teaching of evolution through the teacher’s ‘lens of empathy’ and also considers a ‘pupil centeredness’ approach. As a practicing science educator, I have found it paramount to take into consideration my students’ backgrounds and their families’ beliefs in order to understand their preconceived notions about the origins of life. By teaching evolution as ‘a theory with both facts and fallacies’ only then does it become an opportunity for critical thinking that fosters growth and risk taking in a safe environment. Most times students hear evolution preached as a one-sided lecture by teachers who believe it’s “my way or the highway” and leave little or no room for dialogue. I believe that a teacher’s job is to stay updated with current research on the theory of evolution and then present all the information to students in a way that creates personal opportunities for them to adjust their existing schema without demeaning them, their ideas, or their faith or belief system. This not only shows value, compassion and tolerance for them as thinking humans, but also allows them opportunities to develop critical thinking, which helps to shape whom they become as adults.

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-009-9251-0
Online Date: 1/12/2010
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by Alexakos, Konstantinos

In his article Scientists at Play in a Field of the Lord, David Long (2010) rightly challenges our presumptions of what science is and brings forth some of the disjunctures between science and deeply held American religious beliefs. Reading his narrative of the conflicts that he experienced on the opening day of the Creation Museum, I cannot help but reconsider what the epistemology of science is and science learning ought to be. Rather than science being taught as a prescribed, deterministic system of beliefs and procedures as it is often done, I suggest instead that it would be more appropriate to teach science as a way of thinking and making sense of dialectical processes in nature. Not as set of ultimate “truths”, but as understandings of processes themselves in the process of simultaneously becoming and being transformed.

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-009-9252-z
Online Date: 1/12/2010
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by Long, David E.

Discussing themes from my paper Scientists at play in a field of the Lord, three forum participants identify and discuss continuing social and epistemological issues which continue to challenge effective evolution education. I extend these themes and further amplify the vexing nature of an effective dialectic regarding evolution, especially for Creationists. By doing so, I offer that a full dialectic regarding evolution in classrooms requires quite a bit more explicit historicizing of both the nature of science and religion.

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-009-9253-y
Online Date: 1/8/2010
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by Long, David E.

The Answers in Genesis Creation Museum opened in May of 2007. During the opening day, a loosely affiliated group of scientists joined in a Rally for Reason as they termed it to protest the museum’s potential effect on science in the United States. This paper discusses ethnographic data collected before and during the rally. Scientist narratives disclose the rationale for their participation at the rally, unpacking their hopes, fears and social ideals vis-à-vis their perception of the Museum’s impact. With these ideals, I discuss the lacking discourse between the values of ideal of science literacy, the contested authority of museums and their publics, and a lacking conception of how a valuerationality aligned towards the Museum’s message continues to be culturally produced.

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-009-9249-7
Online Date: 1/7/2010
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by Tobin, Kenneth

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-009-9241-2
Online Date: 10/9/2009
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by Roth, Wolff-Michael

In and with this text, I introduce the Forum that centers around a series of essays written by a high school student and an interview with his teacher all collected as part of a larger study about students’ discourses with respect to (nature of) science, learning, and knowing. I provide a brief review of the original findings, which had been published in a study co-authored by the student and myself, his physics teacher.

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-009-9224-3
Online Date: 9/29/2009
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by Martin, Sonya N.; Siry, Christina A.

Trevor Owens’ paper provides a critique of the role of gender and authority in selected children’s books that presented biographies of Albert Einstein and Marie Curie. In the context of discussing Trevor’s (2009) article about children’s literature, this forum explores issues related to the (a) representation and construction of gender, science, and childhood in literature for children; (b) the need to consider socio/historical/cultural contexts in analytical and theoretical frameworks; and (c) the importance of fostering critical literacy perspectives in pre- and in-service science teachers and the children whom they teach.

DOI: 10.1007/s11422-009-9238-x
Online Date: 9/25/2009
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