Rhetorical Framings of Science, Technology, Society, and Environments in Middle School Science Textbooks

• In Event: 64.088 - Sheraton Roundtable 12 - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 64.088-5 - Roundtable: Research on Curriculum Design for Science Learning

Abstract

While an integrative approach to science, technology, society, and environments—namely, STSE education—is increasingly highlighted in curriculum reforms worldwide, less is known about how it looks like in school. How are the four components in STSE actually framed as related to each other? This study addresses this problem by analyzing the rhetorical framings in the written text about STSE in middle school science textbooks in China. Rhetorical-discursive analyses revealed five threads of relationships, with great variety, framed among the four components of STSE. The findings shed light on how to support students’ encounters with, read of, and learning about science, technology, society, and environments, and how to better link the scientific with the environmental.

Author

• Sihan Xiao, East China Normal University