Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Jul 1, 2004
... Crossing a Bridge Too Far? ... traitent des questions éthiques soulevées dans ces domaines, m... more ... Crossing a Bridge Too Far? ... traitent des questions éthiques soulevées dans ces domaines, mais les problčmes scientifiques et les questions d'éthi-que se caractérisent par des notions et procédures différentes, et les enseignants de sciences n'ont pas tou-jours les ...
Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 2021
Global warming and climate change are serious issues facing humanity at present and education nee... more Global warming and climate change are serious issues facing humanity at present and education needs to focus on including informed-decision in classroom practices. The conceptual framework used in this study has provided interconnections that influence beliefs and understandings in providing a knowledge base for making “informed-decision” among high school students. This study was conducted in three year 9 classes in two high schools in the UK and among 65 students. An inquiry intervention model was developed using the 5E instructional model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) to identify beliefs and understanding and to strengthen students’ knowledge base. This study used a design-based research setting and utilised a mixed methodology. The Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were computed to examine the pre-post-difference among questionnaire items, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to explore the relationship between belief, understanding, and intention....
Socio-scientific issues and socially acute questions enable moral judgement through rational, emo... more Socio-scientific issues and socially acute questions enable moral judgement through rational, emotional, intuitive and imaginative thinkings. Our research focuses more specifically on the place of the myth in student discussions about controversial issues. We have analysed the mythemes expressed through online exchanges between students from England, France and New Zealand about three 'pest'-animal issues, the 'pests' in question being the Badger (England), Wolf (France) and Possum (New Zealand). We observe the expression of recurrent mythemes by issue, one demonizing the animal and encouraging its destruction or control, one protecting its proper nature, one ambivalent proposing a dialogue between the two first ones. These expressions relate to the living socio-cultural contexts of the students. The mytheme expressed by each student remains stable during the discussion. The potential of myths to enable critical thinking in intercultural communication is discussed. Keywords Myth • Socio-scientific issues • Socially acute questions • Debate Socio-Scientific Issues (SSIs) and Socially Acute Questions (SAQs), respectively conceptualised by Dana Zeidler and Troy Sadler (2008), and Legardez and Laurence Simonneaux (2006) are based on rational, emotional, and intuitive thinking to guide controversial issues and to frame moral judgement. Research analysing student argumentation through SSIs or SAQs focuses on the links between the ethical, affective and cognitive dimensions (
Entrevista com Ralph Levinson coordenada pelo Prof. Dr. Danilo Seithi Kato (UFTM). Ralph Levinson... more Entrevista com Ralph Levinson coordenada pelo Prof. Dr. Danilo Seithi Kato (UFTM). Ralph Levinson é professor do Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Londres. Ele dirige o mestrado em Educação para Ciências e orienta trabalhos de doutorado. Seus interesses de pesquisa são questões sociocientíficas controversas, ciência e justiça social, educação para ciências e criatividade e pedagogia em ciência. Ele é o autor de “Towards a theoretical framework for teaching controversial socio?scientific issues” (2006) e de “Science education and democratic participation: an uneasy congruence” (2010). Interview with Ralph Levinson coordinated by professor Danilo Seithi Kato (Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro - UFTM). Ralph Levinson is Reader in Education at the Institute of Education (University of London). He is programme director of the MA in Science Education and supervises doctoral students. His research interests are in socio-scientific issues, science and social justice, science ed...
SwafS-Achievements and recommendations report 2020 [6] Research ethics and research integrity [7]... more SwafS-Achievements and recommendations report 2020 [6] Research ethics and research integrity [7] Institutional changes towards responsible research and innovation [8] Citizen science and citizen engagement [9] Science careers [10] Science education [11] Science communication [12] Gender equality [13] Open Access [14]
International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 2019
Socio-scientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) incorporates the European Commission's approa... more Socio-scientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) incorporates the European Commission's approach to Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). These relationships are elaborated into a pedagogic model encouraging young people to ask real-world questions that interest them, collect evidence to answer the questions and, as a result, to take personal action on their findings. After depicting a pedagogic model for SSIBL, we identify the opportunities for pre-service science teachers (PSTs) adopting a SSIBL approach. We detail SSIBL activity designs that aim to engage students in learning about the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The findings show the prerequisite of using the science curriculum to facilitate SSIBL within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We suggest a SSIBL approach would benefit from co-designed frameworks involving the collaboration of cross-disciplinary groups of teachers, through reflection and enactment on previous SSIBL activities. SSIBL enables prac...
Todo o conteúdo deste periódico está sob uma licença Creative Commons (CC Atribuição 4.0 Internac... more Todo o conteúdo deste periódico está sob uma licença Creative Commons (CC Atribuição 4.0 Internacional), exceto onde está indicado o contrário.
Recent editorials of this journal have focused on issues close to my heart: the misappropriation ... more Recent editorials of this journal have focused on issues close to my heart: the misappropriation of knowledge in supporting racist ideologies, the role of activism through science education, the political control of scientific knowledge. Throughout my career as a school science teacher to working as an academic in higher education, the problems of enhancing social justice through science education continue to challenge. Educationalists and teachers have, rightly, pressed for a more socially and politically relevant curriculum. Two technoscientific issues dominate national and international governance in an unprecedented way. Both are exemplars of pursuing solutions that must be multidisciplinary, but in examining these solutions, educators must be careful to avoid epistemological traps. Manifestos for a more socially and environmentally conscious curriculum must identify the kind of learning at stake. We have a responsibility to support the epistemic and pedagogical means for transforming science curricula into practise. The first issue is the threat of climate change, which governments believe they can do little about because the imperatives of economic growth and comfortable middleclass lifestyles are at odds with decommissioning fossil-fuelled power stations. One technofix is the use of green technologies (while there have been recent advances in nuclear fusion, scalability and applications remain a long way off). A prevalent approach is to demonstrate that wind, solar and geothermal technologies can reduce reliance on fossil fuels. That is a scientifically appealing solution, but to ignore the social, ethical, and political implications is to compound the environmental challenges we face. The second global issue is the pandemic. Covid-19 was unsparing in the ways it hit poor and rich alike-except of course the rich had resources of health and wealth which helped protect them against its worst excesses. But, as Brazilian educators are only too aware, conspiracy theory and denialism (why am I thinking of a recent President of Brazil?)-the guardians of post-truth-have hampered vaccine production and uptake. As the Amazon is exploited, burned for its natural resources, and indigenous peoples are displaced, the previous President laughs at the protests-claiming that global warming is a hoax. Equally, covid-19 was simply a small germ like the flu. Get over it, people!
In recent times, there has been increasing attention to the educational potential of socio-scient... more In recent times, there has been increasing attention to the educational potential of socio-scientific issues (SSI) within science education. One of the main issues associated with the teaching of SSIs is the ability to identify the multiple perspectives a SSI constitutes of, so as to enable students to consider them in their learning and decision-making. In this study we have investigated how 50 pre-service teachers (PSTs), from two different teacher-training institutions in the UK, understand and conceptualise the controversial issue of badger culling in the UK. Our attempts to understand how individuals map controversial issues was informed by Latour’s (2007) actor-network theory. We utlised an exploratory qualitative approach to research, asking PSTs to create mind maps of key factors of the controversy. We conducted data collection and analyses in two Phases. Phase 1 was an open-ended task of identifying as many connections as possible related to ‘milk’ (a key factor in the badg...
... Contact Dr Judith Bennett Department of Educational Studies University of York York YO10 5DD ... more ... Contact Dr Judith Bennett Department of Educational Studies University of York York YO10 5DD ... of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) Review Group for Science (Judith Bennett, Martin ... Buckingham: Open University Press. ...
... AREAS: AN EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE _____ Sheila Turner, Beth McLellan-Arnold, Ralph Levinson .... more ... AREAS: AN EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE _____ Sheila Turner, Beth McLellan-Arnold, Ralph Levinson ... ln) cup of Horlicks and cake (sn) rice and chicken (din) Dan coco pops and ...
Critical Voices in Science Education Research, 2019
This is a narrative account, reflected from the author’s perspective, of three teachers’ resistan... more This is a narrative account, reflected from the author’s perspective, of three teachers’ resistance to the formulation of metrication and fabrication arising from the influence of STEM in science education. It focuses on the ways transformative science teaching challenges this obstacle viewed through the lens of Critical Realism and how social justice is meshed into science pedagogy.
In responding to Jesse Bazzul's and Annette Gough's articles I maintain that contemporary positiv... more In responding to Jesse Bazzul's and Annette Gough's articles I maintain that contemporary positivist science curricula cannot address the urgent issues of sustainability and biopower that confront us. Drawing on the writings and interpretations of Emmanuel Levinas I argue that contemplating the meaning of responsibility to the Other is a radically subversive activity and a means of moving from the neoliberal dominance of science education towards a science one steeped in social justice.
The new National Curriculum for England asks science teachers to teach ethical issues associated ... more The new National Curriculum for England asks science teachers to teach ethical issues associated with controversial topics in science, but the science curriculum may not be the best vehicle for this purpose. Other subject areas may provide a better context for teaching controversial issues. This article focuses on the role of the subject in teaching controversial issues in science as part of a larger survey carried out for The Wellcome Trust. Is PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) a possible solution involving teachers across the curriculum? Or are there other forms of collaboration which work more effectively?.
Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Jul 1, 2004
... Crossing a Bridge Too Far? ... traitent des questions éthiques soulevées dans ces domaines, m... more ... Crossing a Bridge Too Far? ... traitent des questions éthiques soulevées dans ces domaines, mais les problčmes scientifiques et les questions d'éthi-que se caractérisent par des notions et procédures différentes, et les enseignants de sciences n'ont pas tou-jours les ...
Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 2021
Global warming and climate change are serious issues facing humanity at present and education nee... more Global warming and climate change are serious issues facing humanity at present and education needs to focus on including informed-decision in classroom practices. The conceptual framework used in this study has provided interconnections that influence beliefs and understandings in providing a knowledge base for making “informed-decision” among high school students. This study was conducted in three year 9 classes in two high schools in the UK and among 65 students. An inquiry intervention model was developed using the 5E instructional model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) to identify beliefs and understanding and to strengthen students’ knowledge base. This study used a design-based research setting and utilised a mixed methodology. The Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were computed to examine the pre-post-difference among questionnaire items, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to explore the relationship between belief, understanding, and intention....
Socio-scientific issues and socially acute questions enable moral judgement through rational, emo... more Socio-scientific issues and socially acute questions enable moral judgement through rational, emotional, intuitive and imaginative thinkings. Our research focuses more specifically on the place of the myth in student discussions about controversial issues. We have analysed the mythemes expressed through online exchanges between students from England, France and New Zealand about three 'pest'-animal issues, the 'pests' in question being the Badger (England), Wolf (France) and Possum (New Zealand). We observe the expression of recurrent mythemes by issue, one demonizing the animal and encouraging its destruction or control, one protecting its proper nature, one ambivalent proposing a dialogue between the two first ones. These expressions relate to the living socio-cultural contexts of the students. The mytheme expressed by each student remains stable during the discussion. The potential of myths to enable critical thinking in intercultural communication is discussed. Keywords Myth • Socio-scientific issues • Socially acute questions • Debate Socio-Scientific Issues (SSIs) and Socially Acute Questions (SAQs), respectively conceptualised by Dana Zeidler and Troy Sadler (2008), and Legardez and Laurence Simonneaux (2006) are based on rational, emotional, and intuitive thinking to guide controversial issues and to frame moral judgement. Research analysing student argumentation through SSIs or SAQs focuses on the links between the ethical, affective and cognitive dimensions (
Entrevista com Ralph Levinson coordenada pelo Prof. Dr. Danilo Seithi Kato (UFTM). Ralph Levinson... more Entrevista com Ralph Levinson coordenada pelo Prof. Dr. Danilo Seithi Kato (UFTM). Ralph Levinson é professor do Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Londres. Ele dirige o mestrado em Educação para Ciências e orienta trabalhos de doutorado. Seus interesses de pesquisa são questões sociocientíficas controversas, ciência e justiça social, educação para ciências e criatividade e pedagogia em ciência. Ele é o autor de “Towards a theoretical framework for teaching controversial socio?scientific issues” (2006) e de “Science education and democratic participation: an uneasy congruence” (2010). Interview with Ralph Levinson coordinated by professor Danilo Seithi Kato (Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro - UFTM). Ralph Levinson is Reader in Education at the Institute of Education (University of London). He is programme director of the MA in Science Education and supervises doctoral students. His research interests are in socio-scientific issues, science and social justice, science ed...
SwafS-Achievements and recommendations report 2020 [6] Research ethics and research integrity [7]... more SwafS-Achievements and recommendations report 2020 [6] Research ethics and research integrity [7] Institutional changes towards responsible research and innovation [8] Citizen science and citizen engagement [9] Science careers [10] Science education [11] Science communication [12] Gender equality [13] Open Access [14]
International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 2019
Socio-scientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) incorporates the European Commission's approa... more Socio-scientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) incorporates the European Commission's approach to Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). These relationships are elaborated into a pedagogic model encouraging young people to ask real-world questions that interest them, collect evidence to answer the questions and, as a result, to take personal action on their findings. After depicting a pedagogic model for SSIBL, we identify the opportunities for pre-service science teachers (PSTs) adopting a SSIBL approach. We detail SSIBL activity designs that aim to engage students in learning about the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The findings show the prerequisite of using the science curriculum to facilitate SSIBL within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We suggest a SSIBL approach would benefit from co-designed frameworks involving the collaboration of cross-disciplinary groups of teachers, through reflection and enactment on previous SSIBL activities. SSIBL enables prac...
Todo o conteúdo deste periódico está sob uma licença Creative Commons (CC Atribuição 4.0 Internac... more Todo o conteúdo deste periódico está sob uma licença Creative Commons (CC Atribuição 4.0 Internacional), exceto onde está indicado o contrário.
Recent editorials of this journal have focused on issues close to my heart: the misappropriation ... more Recent editorials of this journal have focused on issues close to my heart: the misappropriation of knowledge in supporting racist ideologies, the role of activism through science education, the political control of scientific knowledge. Throughout my career as a school science teacher to working as an academic in higher education, the problems of enhancing social justice through science education continue to challenge. Educationalists and teachers have, rightly, pressed for a more socially and politically relevant curriculum. Two technoscientific issues dominate national and international governance in an unprecedented way. Both are exemplars of pursuing solutions that must be multidisciplinary, but in examining these solutions, educators must be careful to avoid epistemological traps. Manifestos for a more socially and environmentally conscious curriculum must identify the kind of learning at stake. We have a responsibility to support the epistemic and pedagogical means for transforming science curricula into practise. The first issue is the threat of climate change, which governments believe they can do little about because the imperatives of economic growth and comfortable middleclass lifestyles are at odds with decommissioning fossil-fuelled power stations. One technofix is the use of green technologies (while there have been recent advances in nuclear fusion, scalability and applications remain a long way off). A prevalent approach is to demonstrate that wind, solar and geothermal technologies can reduce reliance on fossil fuels. That is a scientifically appealing solution, but to ignore the social, ethical, and political implications is to compound the environmental challenges we face. The second global issue is the pandemic. Covid-19 was unsparing in the ways it hit poor and rich alike-except of course the rich had resources of health and wealth which helped protect them against its worst excesses. But, as Brazilian educators are only too aware, conspiracy theory and denialism (why am I thinking of a recent President of Brazil?)-the guardians of post-truth-have hampered vaccine production and uptake. As the Amazon is exploited, burned for its natural resources, and indigenous peoples are displaced, the previous President laughs at the protests-claiming that global warming is a hoax. Equally, covid-19 was simply a small germ like the flu. Get over it, people!
In recent times, there has been increasing attention to the educational potential of socio-scient... more In recent times, there has been increasing attention to the educational potential of socio-scientific issues (SSI) within science education. One of the main issues associated with the teaching of SSIs is the ability to identify the multiple perspectives a SSI constitutes of, so as to enable students to consider them in their learning and decision-making. In this study we have investigated how 50 pre-service teachers (PSTs), from two different teacher-training institutions in the UK, understand and conceptualise the controversial issue of badger culling in the UK. Our attempts to understand how individuals map controversial issues was informed by Latour’s (2007) actor-network theory. We utlised an exploratory qualitative approach to research, asking PSTs to create mind maps of key factors of the controversy. We conducted data collection and analyses in two Phases. Phase 1 was an open-ended task of identifying as many connections as possible related to ‘milk’ (a key factor in the badg...
... Contact Dr Judith Bennett Department of Educational Studies University of York York YO10 5DD ... more ... Contact Dr Judith Bennett Department of Educational Studies University of York York YO10 5DD ... of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) Review Group for Science (Judith Bennett, Martin ... Buckingham: Open University Press. ...
... AREAS: AN EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE _____ Sheila Turner, Beth McLellan-Arnold, Ralph Levinson .... more ... AREAS: AN EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE _____ Sheila Turner, Beth McLellan-Arnold, Ralph Levinson ... ln) cup of Horlicks and cake (sn) rice and chicken (din) Dan coco pops and ...
Critical Voices in Science Education Research, 2019
This is a narrative account, reflected from the author’s perspective, of three teachers’ resistan... more This is a narrative account, reflected from the author’s perspective, of three teachers’ resistance to the formulation of metrication and fabrication arising from the influence of STEM in science education. It focuses on the ways transformative science teaching challenges this obstacle viewed through the lens of Critical Realism and how social justice is meshed into science pedagogy.
In responding to Jesse Bazzul's and Annette Gough's articles I maintain that contemporary positiv... more In responding to Jesse Bazzul's and Annette Gough's articles I maintain that contemporary positivist science curricula cannot address the urgent issues of sustainability and biopower that confront us. Drawing on the writings and interpretations of Emmanuel Levinas I argue that contemplating the meaning of responsibility to the Other is a radically subversive activity and a means of moving from the neoliberal dominance of science education towards a science one steeped in social justice.
The new National Curriculum for England asks science teachers to teach ethical issues associated ... more The new National Curriculum for England asks science teachers to teach ethical issues associated with controversial topics in science, but the science curriculum may not be the best vehicle for this purpose. Other subject areas may provide a better context for teaching controversial issues. This article focuses on the role of the subject in teaching controversial issues in science as part of a larger survey carried out for The Wellcome Trust. Is PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) a possible solution involving teachers across the curriculum? Or are there other forms of collaboration which work more effectively?.
Uploads
Papers by Ralph Levinson