Contemporary Scientists and their Interactions with Non-Scientists: Alternative Companion Stories for School Curricula
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Contemporary Scientists and their Interactions with Non-Scientists: Alternative Companion Stories for School Curricula Dorothy V. Smith 1
2
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& Pamela J. Mulhall & Christina E. Hart & Richard F. Gunstone
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# Springer Nature B.V. 2018
Abstract Students learn more than science knowledge in a science classroom; they also acquire important messages about the purposes and contexts of science. Roberts (2011) calls these messages a companion story. In this article, we present a case study of high-profile Australian contemporary scientists to argue that there is a need to broaden the range of companion stories presented to students. A key companion story presently conveyed in schools is that the products of science are more important than the involvement of scientists in the construction of scientific knowledge. By contrast, the experiences and insights of the scientists in this case study shifts our understanding away from the idea that science is something that humans do— although that is true—to a deeper understanding that science is a discipline in which being human is important. We identify fresh companion stories that arise from these data and argue that the inclusion of such companion stories in the science curriculum is likely to better meet the needs of all citizens, scientists and non-scientists alike. Keywords Science curriculum . Companion story . Companion meaning . Science practices . Contemporary science . Views of scientists
Introduction A fundamental purpose of teaching science is to convey what Roberts (2011) calls a science story, ‘which gives scientific meaning to events and phenomena being studied’ (p.21). However, students learn more than scientific meaning in science classrooms; they also learn a view of science itself and a view of their ‘fellow human beings … in terms of who possesses truth and who should listen to whom in matters scientific, … who has the capability to
* Dorothy V. Smith [email protected]
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School of Education, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia
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Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
Research in Science Education
understand science and therefore can be empowered in a certain way’ (Ostman 1998 p.55). These other messages communicate contexts and convey companion meanings (Ostman 1998). They tell a companion story that ‘teaches students about the context in which scientific meaning is to be taken, and hence the purpose for learning it’ (Roberts 2011 p. 21). A companion story does not need to be a coherent narrative—although it can be—nor is it a fiction; sometimes, the context is conveyed implicitly and at other times, it is made explicit, but it is always conveyed (Milne 1998). The idea of a companion story serves as a reminder that in every science lesson, some facts are foregrounded and others omitted. In this sense, every story—implicit and explicit—that is told about science is a partial one: partial in the sense that it does not and cannot convey a whole truth and partial also in the sense that the teller has sh
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