Examining power, knowledge and power relations in a science research apprenticeship
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Examining power, knowledge and power relations in a science research apprenticeship Tang Wee Teo1 · Yong Leng Kelvin Tan2 Received: 12 April 2017 / Accepted: 20 March 2019 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract The science laboratory is a politically entrenched space where complex power relations interplay while social agents learn about the rules and routines to ensure safety, precision and reproducibility in research work. This paper presents a case study of two Singaporean students undergoing apprenticeship in a 3-year school-based School Scientist Programme. They engaged in an open and authentic science inquiry involving chemical synthesis in the school’s science laboratory under the apprenticeship of an in-house School Scientist who started the programme. The goals of this paper are to offer an alternative—critical and nuanced—lens to the dominant positivist and social constructivist discourse about science research apprenticeship. Using visual ethnography approach, we collected videos and photographs of the students’ and School Scientist’s interactions during the science research over the first 18 months of the programme. The study documented critical events that showed shifts in control over knowledge construction and mastery of the chemical synthesis craft as the science research progressed. This paper contributes to the Foucauldian theory of power in offering an alternative view to the dialectical explanation of power and knowledge. First, it shows that while there is an overall gain in knowledge of chemical synthesis increased during the apprenticeship, the power relationship fluctuates when a different genre of chemical synthesis work was introduced. The fluctuation is related to the overtaking and relinquishing of control (power) with the latter leading to the construction of knowledge. Second, we show how the power relationship, involving the interplay of power and knowledge between the expert and apprentice, is more interconnected and complex. The findings of this study have implications for teachers who want to plan and enact authentic science inquiry with their students. Keywords Apprenticeship · Power · Power relationships · Chemical synthesis · Science laboratory
Lead Editor: Rachel Gisewhite. * Tang Wee Teo [email protected] 1
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
2
Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore, Singapore
13
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T. W. Teo, Y. L. K. Tan
A school‑based science apprenticeship Before schools became the main institutions for learning, the most common means for the transmission of skills and knowledge came through participation in apprenticeship experiences. Apprenticeship in science education is the typical approach to enculturate students into the norms and practices of doing science. In the context of chemical synthesis, learning about chemical reactions in theory is vastly different from learning the actual process of synthesizing and characterizing chemical compounds. Theoretical discussions about chemical sy
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