Poster #20 - Encouraging Effective Engagement: Community Action Groups and Their Relationship to Science Education

• In Event: 63.088 - MTCC Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: 63.088-4 - Democratic Citizenship in Education Poster Session

Abstract

Science education should equip students with the attitudes, skills and knowledge to be critical of practices and products of science and technology and to take informed actions to address harms concerning them. Community Action Groups (CAGs) are regularly involved in such endeavours and offer opportunities to learn about critical characteristics and practices of citizen socio-political activism. In the study reported here, we discovered - based on constant comparative analysis of qualitative data - that CAGs display a dynamic, interdisciplinary and complex array of characteristics, which inform their being, knowing and values. We suggest that connections between school science education and CAGs may promote students to develop sophisticated understandings of science, socio-scientific issues, and the tools and skills to confront these issues appropriately.

Authors

• Zoya Padamsi, University of Toronto

• Minja Milanovic, University of Toronto

• Sarah Halwany, University of Toronto

• Kirby Mitchell, University of Toronto

• Majd Zouda, University of Toronto

• John Lawrence Bencze, OISE/University of Toronto