The ‘No’ church of science education: Encouraging ignorance

• In Event: Science and Technology Studies and Science Education: ‘High’ vs. ‘Low’ Church Tensions (A)

Abstract

In this paper I will argue that the current version of the Australian Curriculum being implemented in schools is more about encouraging ignorance and creating a ‘No’ church. A rejection of the ‘high’ and ‘low’ church binary provides an opportunity to de-centre arguments and engage with the silences in the curriculum documents that have been highlighted by others and more. Noel Gough (2013, p.1223), for example, noted the lack of mention of complexity as a key scientific concept in the Australian Curriculum, and that “the word ‘complex’ in relation to ‘systems’ […] appears only once”. Annette Gough (2015) drew attention to the parallels between the silences around sociopolitical issues in government policies and curriculum related to STEM and those found with respect to environmental education two decades ago, and relates these to the resurgence of a scientific rationalist approach to curriculum. Elsewhere (Gough 2017a, 2017b) she discussed the silences around sustainability and marine topics in the Australian Curriculum. Cartoonist Judy Horacek (2016) highlighted the ignorance in society around science topics such as climate change, perhaps best summed up in her cartoon on Trying to explain science. I argue that the congregation of the ‘No’ church are the students who are rejecting science studies because they can see no connection to their lives in the science education they are receiving as it is not engaging socioscientific issues in a meaningful way that would enable them to participate in the political decision-making necessary for addressing environmental issues such as climate change.

Author

• Annette Gough, RMIT University