Student Teachers, Social and Economic Disparities, and a Discussion Game

• In Event: 29.078 - A Framework for Sociopolitical Actions on Socioscientific Problems: International Perspectives

Abstract

It is not common practice to investigate socio-technical controversies in the science classroom by examining the economic systems of which they are part. However, in the current period, which Pierce (2013) refers to as the postgenomic era (p. 111), marked by the unequal distribution of wealth (Piketty, 2013) and the social and environmental effects of neoliberalism, addressing these concerns in science education has become imperative. In Activist Science and Technology Education (2014), Author1 and Collaborator1 point to the need for a deep-rooted change, “tak[ing] more seriously wider social, political, economic and environmental contexts in which our practices reside and also seek to resist and influence” (p. 2). The idea according to which science education must not be blind to the economic dimensions to which it contributes and by which it is influenced is underlined in a chapter that we wrote for the forthcoming book Science & Technology Education Promoting Wellbeing for Individuals, Societies & Environments (Collaborator2 & Author5, 2017).
In this presentation, we will first describe a group game, entitled Decide, which aims at encouraging socio-political discussion in the area of techo-science. This game is distributed under a Creative Commons License (Attribution - Share Alike 3.0 Unported), which means that it is highly accessible and shared free of charge in an altruistic spirit. The user is granted several rights: the game can be copied and adapted as needed, provided that it is attributed to the author or licensor. It can also be distributed (in its original or adapted version), but only under the same license terms.
Using Decide in science classrooms creates opportunities to discuss, among other possible subjects, the controversy surrounding the development and commercialization of nanotechnologies and to explore various issues involved, including economic controversies. In this presentation, we will describe the context of a study in which student teachers played the game. We will also show that, in discussing the development and commercialization of nanotechnologies, student teachers referred to limited access to the benefits of nanotechnologies, the unequal distribution of their costs and benefits, the risk of offshoring factories and exploiting child labor and the development of medical treatments for profit.
The game shares many of SE4C orientations: it invites participants to inquire, discuss and take positions on a socio-technical problem in the context of a discussion conducted democratically (e.g. xenotransplantation, stem cells or neuroscience). Students may, as well, choose to act to address concerns they have developed in the context of game playing. With this in mind, we will discuss the contributions that Decide may bring to SE4C but as well identify its main limit: the fact that, while there is potential for it, the game does not lead explicitly to socio-political action.

Authors

• Chantal Pouliot, Université Laval

• Audrey Groleau, University of Quebec