Science Education: Policy, Practices, and Values

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Science education occupies a unique position among the school-based disciplines. Across many sectors, the perceived role of science education is to prepare students to enter into and succeed in scientific fields. It is argued that if an advanced economy, like the United States, wishes to maintain its economic relevance, than each generation must be prepared to engage in scientific and technological innovation and that school science is responsible in fulfilling this obligation. But only approximately 5% of all occupations are STEM related - what happens to the 95% of students who wish not to pursue STEM careers? What are the needs of an educated citizen in today's society? Although most goals for science education focus on the development of students' understanding of the material world, this focus on canonical science often presents the discipline as a ‘rhetoric of conclusions' rather than a messy, complex, highly creative, and tentative enterprise. The consequence has been that many students are alienated from science, thus undermining one of the fundamental aims of science education. This course explores the complex and contested terrain of policy and practice in science education by focusing on four major themes: 1) The nature of science and the nature of school science; 2) Policies surrounding science curriculum; 3) The practice of science education; and 4) New approaches to science education.