Back to the Drawing Board

Here I am, back to the drawing board once again. Why am I wanting to explore the world of values in science education? What does this mean for me? for the readers? for the school community and the institution that informs it? for this society and the world at large? For a start, I am certain that I need clarity in this issue and hopefully, with these, all the other secondary concerns will ease themselves into place.

I guess I have to start from the perspective of a subjectivity statement. Having been a science teacher, I have seen what science attempts to teach children in the classrooms, basically as a body of knowledge that needs to be learn and understood. Some scientific processes are taught and skills examination fall into the assessment mode for science studies I have had a hand in making a certain meaning out of this discipline and handing that self-constructed meaning, also constructed for me by others, i.e., my teachers, my peers, my parents, my family, almost everyone I have come in contact with in my early life and also later on as a tertiary student and then a teacher, to the children.

I am at a point in time, after teaching actively for 12 years (10 years to 15 and 16 years olds and for 2 years, learning the role of a facilitator in a free-progress school with 9 to 12 year olds), questioning my assumptions about science. In day to day life, I come face to face with the impact of science and technology on our daily lives, notably the increase in carbon dioxide emission, the resulting global warming and dire consequences out of this; the conflicts amongst nations and the eminent dangers of warfare, biological, chemical, ballistic, all of which are fed by science and technology; about contamination of food for consumption both fresh and processed; In all issues related to these aspects, values on which we make decisions take centre-stage. Values seem to be at the heart of the process and the practice of science, since scientists are human and operate on human principles guided by a value system and so are consumers of science human, making decisions pertaining to the use of the products of science. If something looms before us as catastrophic, at the heart of the matter is, almost always, a values issue feeding a decision making process confronts all of us in the picture.

The amalgamation of such issues put before me as a science teacher resolved to bring the best of education to our children for a better and progressive future of one and all, I have embarked on a search. An embattlement within has fed this embarkation. Meaning making is a powerful process. The manner in which meaning-making is influenced is another powerful process. What has been my role in this process in the classroom? How has the school informed this process, influencing me in many ways, many times facilitating, and other many times, putting before me constraints and expectations to fulfill an institutional goal more than ensuring a sound and meaningful education for each individual child, for his or her personal growth and progress in the level of consciousness, to facilitate his or her flowering into consciousness entities who work for their individual growth and fulfillment as well as that of the society they are part and their roles as inhabitants of earth?

Why has earth spun itself into what it is today, according to environmental scientists, ailing and in need of immediate treatment and remedy if we do not want to see the devastation of life-chains as soon as within the next few decades (Stern, N., 2007)? Science has been largely responsible for the way things exist in our lives at this point in time. The very way we live our lives, with the levels of comfort and convenience at the material level has been brought about by science. But have we used science for the benefit of this world and its inhabitants? Have we been measured and mindful about our exploits? Have we been well informed as consumers of science and also practitioners? What values have directed us towards the current fate that confronts us? Schools seek to embrace the “teaching”of values to children. What has been the scenario with science education with regards to values? Much work has gone into research on values in science education, from many perspectives. The search goes into the nature of science and if science is really objective and values-free or amoral as scientists have made out to be since the time science appeared in the forefront a few centuries before (Aicken, Frederick, 1991). There is emergent insistence that scientific knowledge is also a construction of the mind – both influenced by cognitive methods and socio-cultural methods of meaning-making (Hung, Edwin,1997). The sociology of science examines the application of science and its processes in the real world (Kaufman, Douglas et al., 2003). It remains a pursuit of the truth in matter and phenomena but the way it is pursued and applied begs study, if only to explain the plight of the earth today and on a positive note, what each one of us connected to science (Moss, T. David, 2003) and that means all of us, actually) can do about the situation at hand. Are we to position ourselves for mass-destruction or shall we re-maneuver and head towards a goal of mutual benefit and progress that science can facilitate?

Gauch (2003) came my way. A cursory glance points out that this book would be an essential read to address some of these questions I have asked, or at least in charting a path for me in the huge jungle I suddenly find myself in.

Then there are the issues of how values are formed. I hope to take a constructivist view towards the epistemology of values formation, that seems the most convincing to me as of now. Piaget and Kohlberg (Kohlberg, L and Turiel, E, 1971; Piaget, J., 1965) inform of structures (cognitive and socio-cultural) with which children engage in meaning making (or construct meaning).

In studying the scenarios in schools, the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism is likely to inform my search with the research methodologies of ethnography and narratives. Participant observation, analysis of policy documents would feature as key research methods in my endeavour to uncover science as is presented to children in the schools of my selection (Crotty, 1998; Guba and Lincoln, 1994).

Below are some references that have fed my interest, curiosity and put some things in perspective.

Reference

Aicken, Frederick (1991). The Nature of Science. Heinemann, US

Crotty, M (1998). Introduction: The Research Process. In The Foundations of Social Research (pp 1-17). Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage

Guba, E G and Lincoln, Y S (1994). Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research. In N K Denzin and Y S Lincoln (Eds), Handbook of Qualitative Research (Vol. 2, pp. 105 – 117).

Hugh G. Gauch (2003). Scientific Method in Practice. Cambridge University Press, 2003

Hung, Edwin (1997). The Nature of Science: Problems and Perspectives. Wadsworth Publishing Company, CA.

Kaufman, Douglas., Moss, M David and Olson, Terry (2003). Beyond the Boundaries: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Learning and Teaching. Greenwood Publishing Group.

Kohlberg, L and Turiel, E (1971).Moral Development and Moral Education. In G Lesser, ed.Psychology and educational practice. Scott Fresman.

McComas, William. S (1998). The Nature of Science in Science Education: Rationales and Strategies. Springer.

Moss, T. David (2003). The End of Science ….. and Where Other Disciplines Begin: Exploring the Nature of Science. In Kaufman, Douglas., Moss, M David and Olson, Terry (2003). Beyond the Boundaries: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Learning and Teaching. Greenwood Publishing Group.

Piaget, J. (1965). The Moral Judgment of the Child. The Free Press: New York. Power, F.C., Higgins, A., and Kohlberg, L. (1989). “Lawrence Kohlberg’s Approach to Moral Education.” New York: Columbia University Press.

Rutherford, Floyd James and Ahlgren, Andres (1994). Science for All Americans: Project 2061. Oxford University Press, US.

Stern, N. (2007) : The Economics of Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Science Over All? An article posted on Washington Post following President Obama's move to allow for state funding of stem cell research

This post will take a real example of a controversial issue that is the talking point today and that raises the point about the role of the scientists in society. Is it only to engage in science alone, blinded to all else, or are scientists, in this time and age, expected to make values based dicisions on science issues?

This article, by Yuval Levin was posted on the Washington Post of Tuesday, 10 March, 2009. It presents the issue of President Obama's move to facilitate stem cell research through public funding as a case against moral and ethical standards. This move, Yuvel warned, signals a 'dangerous temptation in Science policy". Yuvel takes issue with President Obama's apparent refusal in taking a moral stand on the issue, and instead, mentioning that it will be bound by a code of ethics that a certain scientific community would work out. Yuvel takes issue with the fact that when it is politics that should draw guidelines on public issues based on public feedback and sentiments and the good of the nation, the president had left the scientific community to arbitrate.

We are once again faced with the dilemma in science: Is science amoral and value-free? Will the scientific community be able to draw up ethical guidelines on the issue of the stem cell research.

Yuvel's concern presupposes some questions:

1) Will scientists be in a position to advance their take on moral and ethical issues?

2) Are scientists incapable of making measured judgments over the issue of stem cell research and make their proposal a fair representation of what the society they are a part of wants and not only what the scientific community aspires for.

I do agree however, that the scientific body drawing up the ethical guidelines needs to be fairly represented, not only by scientists but also statesmen, politicans and heads of religious and spiritual organisations.

It would be a good idea to gather information on what exactly the scientific community thinks of this controversial topic. It is the values that scientists hold that would enable them to make well informed, collectively beneficial decisions on controversial issues. And scientists, being human, operate through values.

How is Science Taught in the Classrooms?

In pursuing my interest in values in science education, perhaps one of the first questions that need to be answered would be how exactly is science being taught in schools world over. This entails some exploratory work, some literature search. It would be great if I can hear from educationists, parents, students around the world. On my part, I would make attempts at finding out something about what science education is like in some countries around the world, like North and South America, England, France, Germany, India, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and a country in Africa.

There are certain intrinsic values embedded in science as a discipline which manifests themselves in the classrooms as skills to be taught, such as the skills of observation, measurement, organisation, identification, hypothesis generation, application etc. Science is often characterised by certain attitudes such as being open information reaching from all around us, new suggestions, ideas coming our way, deliberately looking for alternative points of view and being open to falsification. In short, science occupies itself with the pursuit of truth, the truth in the objects and phenomena that are associated to our everyday lives.

However, do these values that are embedded in science filtered into the classrooms or is science taught as a body of knowledge, whose content students are expected to mug up for an examination? Or is science simplified and treated as field play without students internalising the scientific values as well as the concepts? Are values such as translated more into examinable skills and their intrinsic values ignored? what is the spirit with which science is taught in schools world over?

In connection with this trend of thought, I have included two links to to add to the discussion. One link contains an articel posted by John Moore, Title : Are We Really Teaching Science, giving an American perspective to how science is taught. In this article is mentioned President Barack Obama's pledge to "restore science to its rightful place". Link at http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/chemeddl/2009/03/29/are-we-really-teaching-science-april-2009/Read on.

Another link that I have included is a posting on the state of science education in Australia, at http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/school_education/publications_resources/science_in_australian_schools/executive_summary.htm. Title : Review of Science Education Literature and Reports: Executive Summary

For the above two links, refer to the links section on the left.

Thats it for now and cheers!

Affective Science

Here is the link, on the left, under links to the URL that I posted on the last entry some 5 days ago, on Affective Science. This will contain links to important web pages, documents and blogs that would inform this discourse on values in science education. If any of you followers have related links, do post them.

The Affective Domain in Science Education

A brochure came my way as I was wading through the deep waters of Values in Science education. Thanks to my Sup, (Prog Chang) for the timely arrow that brought good tidings in the form of this brochure she received on Affective Science Teaching. In this brochure, I found the lead to Thomas R Koballa's website. As of now, the medium I am in looks dense, murky. There is much filtering to do, much fine-tuning of what values are, what science is and what values in science education is all about. I have done some reading on the separate issues of values and science. However, Koballa's webpage:

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/workshop07/participants/16284.html

addresses, for the first time, for me, another angle of the issue which is at the moment appearing as a reconciliation - The affective domain in science teaching. He has some interesting ideas on attitudes and values as well as motivation in science education.

Interestingly, the brochure begun the issue of affective science education by refering to Bernard Madoff, a well known American businessman who now faces charges of fraud with estimated client lose running into US$65 billion, the largest investor fraud ever commiteed by a single person.

It was this that caught my attention first. Values features prominently here, values in education and the making of a man, a woman, basically, a citizen.

I am set to explore links in this article and hope to get back with more information.

Cheers.

Values in Science Education

We all know now that there is a huge movement in the field of science geared towards the notion that science can no-longer be considered value-free or straight and objective without areas of grey shades. Sociology of Science is rising as a powerful player in the way thoughts in this area are shaped. This being the case, what kind of values are there inherent within the content area of science. There are values in the very way the practice of science is facilitated, in which science is practiced and so are values embedded in the way science is applied, the way funding is allocated to it and in the way science is communicated to different groups of people. How are all these values that fill the body of science as a discipline offered in the schools? Are schools making an adequate and accurate representation of science to the pupils? The way science is portrayed to pupils has great implications for the way in which it is going to be perceived and practiced by future generations.

Was a certian approach to science in the previous decade or even century responsible for the state of the earth in current times?

This is a heavily contentious subject. Have we dealt with it simplistically without bringing forward the controversies and the conflicts in science and its pursuits. Is this justificable? This is at one level. At the other level, I wish to find out what exactly is happening in schools, in the very classrooms, in the minds of teachers teaching the subject and the minds of the learners? How is science perceived and how is this perception conveyed. Is this problematic? What could be done if it is problematic.

I am at the beginning stages of this exploration. For a start, I have embarked on reading, doing some lit reviews on two aspects: The theoretical perspectives feeding the notion of science and its practice and the theoretical perspectives that feed values development in children. I next find myself gliding into domains of sociology - of science and values education.

The field is very hazy to me as of now and I know that more and more reading would help the situation and at the same time introduce more complexities into the picture. But I am excited about it all.

But I also realise the need to be focussed and eventually narrow down this project into manageable bite-size, without losing any of the controversies or problematic areas that surface, without forgoing the ongoing primary debates in this area. I am in the process of drawing up a conceptual map to help me navigate my path in what to me is a virgin forest.

I am also starting to think of methodologies for this work. I have a good instinct that it would involve both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

My interest in the area was propelled by environmental issues and as a Biology teacher, I found myself inadequately equipped to facilitate the discourse on burning issues concerning the earth's well being amongst my pupils. What I managed then, on hindsight, seem limited in scope and its nearness to reality. With more exposure now, I realise how this is a heaviliy politicised issue. My feel is that we need to get back to basics and cultivate a basic respect within ourselves for nature and the rest will fall into place. Some things are happening along these lines in isolated ways in schools in US (as I have read thus far) and also in India. I would like to know more about what is happening in Africa and also South American countries.

Many such schools exist in India and I wish to be able to track them down, wherever they are, study them and document the way science may be taught effectively (or otherwise -depending on parameters of definitions), with the view towards positive and constructive Earth Culture as a way of living. There are many other such schools world over and it would be very interesting to document how science is taught in these schools as well.

Ancient cultures world over practiced positive Earth Culture in a very simple and successful way. We need not lose our touch with this kind of simple regard for the well being of the earth.

I hope to communicate with people around the world on issues concerning values in science education, and also on alternate education that promotes sound values in teaching and the practice of science in daily live. For this purpose, at least for a start, I am attempting this Blog.

The Need of the Moment

I have an interest in the impact of science education on our day to day actions. This interest stems from the dire condition of the earth and the even dire state predicted by scientists should temperature levels rise because of increasing levels of green house gases, especially carbon dioxide.

As a science teacher, I understand somewhat the messages that teachers are capable of bringing into the classrooms and how these influence our children. As a teacher, the more conscious I am of these issues and the need of the moment where the earth is concerned, right from the depth of my being, the more I am going to be able to pass on important messages to my children in the classroom. Passion goes hand in hand with awareness. Being informed of issues creates awareness. The teacher is not alone in bringing in messages that matter into the classroom. She is part of an organisation with its own missions and goals. This organisation is again part of a larger institution with its own agenda. The institution is a part of the society we form, its political and social ideologies, and motivations.

Where do individuals fit in all these? Individuals make society and the world we live in. Just as individuals have shaped the present as it is, the same individuals shape the future. What is the role we want to take on for ourselves, for a better and more progressive future, a fulfilling one, where we live and let live?

Education, both formal and informal, has played a significant role in shaping what we are today, first our ideologies and then our actions.

It is my intention to dive into the depths of how education, especially science education has shaped our thoughts about science and our actions. Are there values inherent in science that have been passed down to us? Or did we walk along a path with blinkers on our eyes, our vision projected forward towards only one and only one goal, blinded to other aspects and suggestions, other aspirations good, true and beautiful, coming from the sidelines? Which path have we walked or have been directed to walk along?

What is the state of science education in the classrooms? World over?

It is important to understand the past so that light is thrown in on the present to make it clearer to us. However, there is no great use in hovering over the past, living in the past, either complaining about or glorifying it. Move forward we must, with a view towards transforming the very way we have been or are, if we want to see something better shaping up before us, before the future generations of humanity.

Ironically, the earth we have exploited is at the heart of the debate, and the earth is us. What are we going to do about it?

The blog hopes follow earth consciousness as it is shaping up now and the place of education in this, both in the way we have been influenced and more importantly on its impact in shaping the future, in its transformative role.

It would be great to hear from anyone out there with an opinion or a statement or a thought, anything at all. This issue concerns all.

Cheers.