Risk Society and Science Education
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Risk Society and Science Education Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic Maurício Pietrocola 1,2
& Ernani Rodrigues
1
& Filipe Bercot
2
& Samuel Schnorr
1
Accepted: 30 October 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract
The current COVID-19 pandemic raises reflection on the new roles of science education in citizen education in a world characterized by civilization risks, derived from the current socioeconomic development. This specific type of risk is treated as a manufactured risk as proposed by the sociologist Ulrich Beck. In this paper, we report a document analysis starting from Beck’s risk society theory, followed by notions of reflexive modernity, risk perception, and the Cynefin decision-making model for complex problems. COVID-19 pandemic is characterized as a manufactured risk. We state that students are unable to deal with manufactured risk because of the type of problems they are usually prepared to solve at school and the limited risk perception they have. In order to acquire better science education, we propose the integration of wicked problems in science programs alongside the use of a multidimensional schema, the so-called amplified risk perception space, a tool to locate students’ risk perception. We hope to contribute to prepare citizens for a world of global and complex events, such as the current pandemic.
* Ernani Rodrigues [email protected] Maurício Pietrocola [email protected] Filipe Bercot [email protected] Samuel Schnorr [email protected]
1
School of Education, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
2
Institute of Advanced Studies, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
M. Pietrocola et al.
1 Introduction The pandemic caused by Sars-CoV-2 virus is spread all over the world and has been unveiling people’s difficulty in dealing with health orientations in order to make decisions about better conduct. From policy-makers to entrepreneurs, liberal professionals, or workers, there seems to be no distinction regarding the diffuse perception of threats and the difficulties on decisionmaking. A scenario of uncertainty has cast a veil over reality, obscuring short-, medium-, and long-term views. Certainties collapsed along with part of our rationality. It seems clear that, in the middle of the pandemic, there is a gap in the so-called critical and active citizenship. Beyond fears of death, the pandemic revealed individual and collective lack of ability to rationally deal with situations imbued with uncertainties. Apparently there is a blind spot in science education leaving society to see itself helpless when facing pandemic, which enacts important reflections for the science educators’ community. Once we advocate for scientific literacy as the basis for exerting critical citizenship, we must find ways to act wisely and balanced by accessing science and technology knowledge. Regarding science education, Derek Hodson argues that it must go beyond teaching how to competently solve problems (“teaching science”) including teaching how science is produced and what are the uses of sci
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