Discursive Construction of the World as a Safe Space in Science Education

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 9:00 am
  In Roundtable Session: Creating New Spaces and Methods for Equity in Science Teaching and Learning (Table 22)

Abstract

The world is rife with socioecological violence. Thus, one should expect science education to enable students to have a better understanding of the socioecological violence unleashed on the underprivileged on account of socioecological disruptions in the world. Our study uses critical discourse analysis to explore the discursive representation of socioecological violence in official school science discourse as represented in three officially mandated environmental science textbooks in Florida, United States. The findings suggest that the official school science discourse may not be offering discursive resources or experiential opportunities that would make socioecological violence intelligible for the students, and thus, could be ill-equipping students to understand and act in ways that lead to a socioecological violence-free world.

Authors

• Ajay Sharma, University of Georgia

• SungEun Min, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania