“Liking Science Is Not Enough”: Messages for International Science Education Policy and Practice

• In Event: Informing Policy and Influencing Practice: Messages From Cross-Disciplinary Research on Science and Mathematics Education

Abstract

Low participation rates in the study of science post-16 are a matter of international concern. Existing evidence suggests that children’s science aspirations are largely formed within the critical 10-14 age period (e.g. Tai et al 2006; Lindhal, 2007). Drawing on data from a UK longitudinal study of Children’s Science Aspirations and Career Choices age 10-14, this paper outlines ten key messages for international Science Education policy and practice and makes a case for the importance of integrating knowledge and awareness of science careers into the elementary curriculum.
Perspective/ theoretical framework:
Two main theoretical lenses are used: Bourdieuian theory and feminist poststructuralist conceptualisations of identity. This framework embraces both structure and agency – for instance, ‘choices’ and aspirations are understood as socially embedded phenomena that are shaped by identity, ‘capital’, social context and cultural discourses. While recognising that participants can and do exercise agency in articulating aspirations, attention is also drawn to the powerful, structuring role played by social inequalities in shaping the nature and extent of what is perceived to be (im)possible and/or (un)desirable for ‘people like me’.
Methods:
The paper draws on survey data and semi-structured interview data from the first phase of an ongoing, longitudinal five year UK study that explores the development of children’s science attitudes and aspirations from the ages of 10-14 in which data were collected from over 9,000 elementary school children in England (age 10/11) through an online survey and via 160 semi-structured interviews conducted with 92 children (aged 10/11, drawn from 11 schools in England) and 78 parents.
Results:
The paper discusses the extent to which ten common policy/ practice assumptions about science education (e.g. ‘science is for the most able’; ‘artistic children don’t choose science’) are supported or challenged by evidence from the ASPIRES project and wider international research. It is argued that ‘liking science is not enough’ because children’s enjoyment of science does not simply translate into science aspirations or future participation. Attention is drawn to the disconnect between the majority of children’s reported enjoyment of ‘doing’ science (and high levels of parental support for science, children’s positive views of scientists and relatively high levels of participation in extra-curricula science-related activities) yet their general resistance to the idea of ‘being’ a scientist. Implications for policy practice are drawn out, in particular making the case for early science careers awareness – in which knowledge and awareness of STEM careers us integrated into the elementary curriculum to increase students’ understandings of the breadth of careers from science from an early age and to enhance their understanding of the relevance of science to wider public life.
Significance:
The paper reports on substantial qualitative and quantitative data sets from the first UK study of its kind. The paper foregrounds implementation messages for science education policy and practice in the UK and internationally and contributes to the overall AERA conference theme (Non Satis Scrire) through the use of research knowledge to increase and diversify participation in science.

Author

• Louise Archer, Kings College, London