Research Question and Objectives

In this paper I am particularly concerned with science’s tendency (but not just in the natural sciences, but also in the social sciences) to reductionism and the over-rationalization of human actions and behavior. Even if this is an over-simplification of scientific practice and an over-reaction to the popular perceptions promoted by some of science’s most recognizable contemporary figures, might it yet be a fair analysis of how science is taught in classrooms? Is science education rather than science over-simplifying the world it wants students to study?

The danger, perhaps, is not then the relevance of the science curriculum, but that people fail to appreciate the value of expressing views or opinions informed by scientific knowledge and understanding (Author, 2007). This paper therefore focuses on what might be educationally gained by ‘repositioning’ the formal study of the physical world in our schools, rather than focusing our energies solely on restructuring school science curriculum.

What is also required is that our everyday, heuristic appreciation of our world; the experiential realities that shape and by which we manage our lives are also seen as important, need to be accounted for and, therefore, cannot be ignored when trying to understand how to help individuals make use of scientific knowledge (Roth, 2007). Not to do this leaves open the possibility that students will finish their formal education concluding that science is personally meaningless and does not address issues of personal significance. In short, this paper argues that science education has to change so that we make science a natural part of the way we make sense of ourselves and the world around us.

Theoretical Framework

Such a science education would be central to a liberal view of what it means to be educated; it is more than the mere transmission of scientific concepts, but a science education that is of benefit to the individual by enabling them to make sense of the world they are a part through the utilization of science’s explanatory lens (Author, 2010). Students would then be deliberately helped to develop an ethically and democratically-secure approach to their learning that would help them to become critical, autonomous, and informed individuals (Donnelly, 2006, p. 635). For science education to make such a contribution to students’ development in terms of both their substantive knowledge and understanding of the world demands a cross-curricular perspective that is not usually addressed in most teaching practices; with students using their science education as a tool to learn how to resolve common problems and be able to adapt to new solutions (Levinson, 2010, p. 74).

This is, of course, a great deal to ask of teachers. However, not to give students sufficient time and opportunity to explore issues which are both central to a modern scientific understanding of physical processes would nullify, in any meaningful sense, attempts to improve levels of scientific literacy (Hildebrand, Bilica, & Capps, 2008).

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