Full Description
Researchers who conduct ethnography in science education tend to have a deep commitment for transforming science to improve the lives of people in underserved communities. This edited volume explores how contemporary ethnographers in science education bring to light the local production of scientific knowledge and the ways it is implicated in larger social and political struggles. Ethnographies in science education contribute to understanding the experiences of linguistically, racially, and economically diverse populations who have been historically excluded from participation in science. An anthropological approach has also been instrumental in explicating the situated practices by which students enact science in the classroom and in their lives beyond schools.
This edited volume brings together ethnographers in science education to contribute a global perspective on science teaching and learning in school and university classrooms, at home, and after school programs. Included are examples of ethnography in science education from the UK, Argentina, Canada, and the USA in which contributors point to promising directions for theorizing the 'culture' of science education as we undertake educational reform. The authors in this volume argue that ethnography is not only a valid approach for the study of science education, but also they contend that it is essential to the development of more equitable practices for instruction and learning.
This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnography and Education.
Contents
1. Introduction: Ethnographies of science education: situated practices of science learning for social/political transformation Carol B. Brandt and Heidi Carlone 2. Unpacking 'culture' in cultural studies of science education: cultural difference versus cultural production Heidi Carlone and Angela Johnson 3. From science as 'content' to science as 'interpretive key': experiences and reflections from a science course in teacher education Laura Colucci-Gray and Christine Fraser 4. Evolution education in policy and practice: an ethnographic perspective David E. Long 5. Science teaching: a dilemmatic approach Anna Traianou 6. Feeding pigs and looking for güembé: the local production of knowledge about the natural world of peasant and indigenous children in San Ignacio Ana Padawer 7. Collaborative imaginaries and multi-sited ethnography: space-time dimensions of engagement in an afterschool science programme for girls Jrene Rahm 8. The role of borders in environmental education: positioning, power and marginality Carrie T. Tzou and Philip Bell
