A few years ago, I did some research on 'how the science communication
tail got to wag the education dog' (what one educationalist called
the 'humanities envy' of contemporary science education.
I'll be brief, two key points:
1) It doesn't necessarily - the approach to what was then called
'science for public understanding' (but has since started to follow
sci com'n in avoiding such PUS terminology) is in fact rather
different from 'science communication' as we understand it from work
based primarily at adults. It is, on occasion, quite happily and
explicitly 'deficit model'. It also celebrates the learning of science
content as much as it does more contextual stuff, which itself is
pretty tame by STS standards. It simply asks that curriculum
developers think about what science people who aren't going to be
scientists might want and need to know. I think they'd argue the only
change has been an escape from letting the university science
departments dictate school-science.
2) It is not a matter of patronising sociologists talking down to the
unenlightened - This is not some sort of Harry Collins-esque PUS as
knowing lots of sociology. It comes from the science education
community itself. It could be argued that this is just a small part of
the community, and has made its ideas look as if they are more widely
held and collaboratively developed than they really are, but its still
largely based in classroom concerns.
The educationalists have their own agenda, they borrow a bit from sci
com'n/ PUS (and with it, on occasion, some STS) when it fits.
According to historian of British Sci Ed'n, David Layton, one of the
first people to publicly call for a science curriculum written 'for
the people' (rather than future-scientists) was Margaret Thatcher. Not
something the educationalists like to be reminded of, but does show us
that the issue involves more people that psci-commers...
Alice
> -----Original Message-----
> From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:PSCI-
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Reeve
> Sent: 17 July 2007 11:51
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [PSCI-COM] Whatever happened to school physics?
>
> Science communicators may be interested in an open letter from a young
> physics teacher called Wellington Grey to the DoE and AQA - 'A physics
> teacher begs for his subject back'.
>
> He says: "Over the past year the UK Department for Education and the AQA
> board changed the subject. They took the physics out of physics and
> replaced it with... something else, something nebulous and ill defined."
>
> Looks like the 'science communication' tail is now well and truly wagging
> the education dog:
> <http://www.wellingtongrey.net/articles/archive/2007-06-07--open-letter-
> aqa.html>
>
> How did this come about? There is the 'let's save our subject and make it
> more fun' argument but isn't this merely symptomatic of a much deeper long
> term cultural shift in the UK?
>
> On a science communication course back in the early nineties, we had a
> session with a sociologist who patiently explained that science was
> nothing but smoke and mirrors. He spoke as you might to a child who should
> know better but insists on believing in Father Christmas. A lot of us
> thought he was deluded and should get out more.
>
> It seems that he did and took all his mates along to the DoE and AQA where
> they are now completing the cultural devaluation in the UK of scientific
> understanding, rigour and practical ability. They just don't get science.
> To hear some of them you'd think it was a form of child cruelty. This hits
> not just the economy and our sense of reality but also the prospects and
> self-esteem of those individuals with the desire and potential to do
> science and not just talk about it.
>
> Perhaps science communication will become a sort of Cargo Cult of people
> swapping fragmented shards of deconstructed science that no-one
> understands.
> My I'm feeling grumpy.
>
> There is a petition for what it's worth:
> <http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/physicsedu/>
>
--
Alice Bell BSc MA
Research Postgraduate, Science Communication Group
Imperial College, London
college homepage: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/alice.bell
**********************************************************************
1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example,
send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message:
set psci-com nomail
2. To resume email from the list, send the following message:
set psci-com mail
3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message:
leave psci-com
4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive,
can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html
5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and science
and society can be found at http://psci-com.ac.uk
**********************************************************************
|