Viewing science in a different light: Making meaning of the science education goal “science for all”

✍ Scribed by William C. Kyle Jr.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 9 KB
• Volume: 35
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4308
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2736(199810)35:8<835::aid-tea1>3.0.co;2-v

✦ Synopsis

I believe you will find this issue of the Journal to be both intellectually stimulating and thought provoking. Each article focuses upon feminist scholarship, issues of gender, and/or gender equity. The authors challenge the historical, sociocultural, and political ideologies of science and the associated implications in the context of science education. The authors urge science educators to begin to view science in a different light so that we might come closer to our ideal of "science for all."

Sharon Kleinman addresses issues of the masculinization of science and offers examples of how both the ideology and practice of science disenfranchises women scientists. She cautions us against succumbing to the politics of control that can result in women and other minority groups' limited participation in science. Lauren Adamson, Martha Foster, Martha Roark, and Donna Reed report on the divergence of science interest during a naturally occurring academic activity designed to support and guide young children's interest in "doing science." They raise a number of provocative questions related to exploring children's thinking about science and the sociocultural acts of engagement in science.

Jim Gaskell, Gary Hepburn, and Edward Robeck profile a gender equity applied research project in a high school science class. They offer three re/presentations of the project from different rhetorical forms, thus providing us with critical issues to reflect upon regarding our assumptions about gender, pedagogy, equity, and the representation of data. Elaine Howes, applying the theoretical frame of difference feminism, explores how high-school girls connect with science. The implication of her contextual inquiry is that education ought to stress the connections between lives, knowledge, and sociopolitical structures.