The dilemma for promoting ‘student voice’ in science and technology classrooms

1. The dilemma for promoting ‘student voice’ in science and technology classrooms Dr Trevor Davies University of Reading Institute of Education

2. Main idea • That to achieve high status, meaningful science and technology education, creative, research-led approaches are needed for curriculum design and delivery that engage values and emotions in addition to cognition and intellect. The pervading paradigm is authoritarian, conservative and driven by economic imperatives

3. Citizenship needs for science and technology in a participative democracy • “Citizens with breadth and depth of scientific and technological illiteracy may be seriously disadvantaged. Without a strong foundation in fundamental laws, theories and inventions, along with authentic epistemological and ontological conceptions relating to these products of science and technology, they may be more intellectually dependent, less able to judge knowledge claims independent of authorities, and perhaps prey to dogmatics, flimflam artists, and purveyors of simple solutions to complex problems” (AAAS 1989; p 13 cited in Bencze, 2001; p. 275).

4. Serious issues for science and technology • UK Government stresses the need to build flexible education system around the needs and aspirations of individual learners; • Highly regulated, closely assessed learning activities result in narrowly focused deterministic approaches to teaching. • Research into pupils attitudes to science indicates that it is generally too academic, suppresses critical approaches to learning, gives an illusion of certainty (Van Oostveen, 2000).Advantaged students hold cultural capital, are encouraged to work in the abstract and are generally middle/upper classes. • Research into technology education indicates that it is ‘workforce orientated, practical and skills-based (Bencze, 2001) • Research (physics and biology) shows that large number of secondary students couple boredom with perceived difficulty in physics and biology (physics more severely) (Williams, 2003). Those who find the subjects interesting are more able and likely to study them at higher levels. • Relevance of physics and biology is questioned. Practicals are found enjoyable. • Biology is sometimes found repetitive and easy.

5. Some factors affecting the agenda • Lisbon agenda • Shift in the values of western society towards science • A changed relationship between science and technology • Elitism in science exasperated by ‘experts’

6. The gap between policy and practice • Legislative programmes • Political micro-management • Teacher conservatism • Entertainment Vs learning • The role of media

7. The importance of context for building horizontal relationships An innovative ‘spiders in space’ collaboration between education and research was began in January 2003 when eight Australian spiders embarked on a 16 day mission into space on board Columbia STS – 107. The experiment was a culmination of a 3-year collaborative programme between students from Glen Waverly Secondary College, RMIT University and the Royal Melbourne Zoo (Thompson et/ al. 2000). Examples of activities: • Training spiders for flight condition; • Pre-flight environmental conditioning; • Developing and constructing spider habitat; • Designing appropriate lighting for viewing and photographing webs; • Designing and testing automated feeding mechanisms; • Performing control and flight experiments.

8. Creative approaches to Learning • using imagination, often to make unusual connections or see unusual relationships between objects, ideas or situations; • having targets and reasons for working which are capable of resulting in new purposes being discovered; • being comparatively original in relation to the work of a small closed community, such as peers or family, or uniquely original in comparison with those working historically or currently in a field or discipline; • judging value, which demands critical evaluation and reflection, standing back and gaining an overview position (DfEE, 1999).

9. Teachers' ability to make an impact on students and their learning is therefore inhibited by: • the quality of the relationships they build dealing with cognitive and affective matters; • their lack of ability to use their personal experiences and understanding of creativity to benefit students; • the way they deal with risk which does not build confidence enabling students to cope with uncertainty; • lack of recognition and the ability to accommodate the impact that external agencies and experiences have on learners; • adopting approaches to dealing with knowledge, skill, understanding and capability that students cannot sometimes follow; • teaching in ways that do not encourage modelling; that do not accommodate and utilise social and cultural contexts, therefore do not encourage the relationship between thought and action to be further developed.

10. Findings from European creativity research • More emphasis needs to be placed on effective, creative leadership and vision-building; • The curricula in too many countries is content-heavy accompanied by rigid time-tabling and demands ‘excessive conformity’; • Programme requirements are too restrictive and lessons are dull and boring, the topics of little interest to the learners. The emphasis is too excessively weighted on theoretical components of core subjects, including science, with limited recognition of the role of ‘aesthetics’ in all subjects; • Fear of schools, especially examinations is throttling the ability of pupils to think freely and feel free; • Curriculum enrichment is often minimal and teachers are too pressurised to follow-up worthwhile lines of investigation and enquiry; there is little attempt to use assessment of creativity in a formative way; • Emphasis on the performance of the school outweighs concern for performance of the learners; • ‘Creative collaborative work’ between teachers and learners is underemphasised; • Thinking time for teachers and learners is not respected – neither have ‘space’ for creative activity.

11. Moving forward • In the UK, Science education and design and technology education are each steeped in their own history but, in line with changes in ‘universal culture’, they are themselves both subject to change within the culture of ‘reflective practice’; • Internationally (e.g.New Zealand, Ontario, USA Singapore), ways are being explored to create common, coherent approaches; • Science is essentially explanatory in nature whereas design and technology is aspirational; • Design and technology, as such, is served by many specialists with different interests and epistemological positions. Much scientific research is undertaken to fulfill the demands of society for new products and systems or to solve the problems of the implementation of new technological solutions; • The importance of context in the learners experience is paramount. First, this must be done through offering ‘authentic learning’: education that is coherent, personally meaningful, and purposeful, within a social framework.

12. Teaching Attributes for Horizontal dialogue • the promotion of secure trusting relationships; • the creation of variety in contexts for learning; • the promotion of an interactive exchange of knowledge and ideas. • learners’ risk-taking is encouraged; • teachers help to manage learners emotions; • risks taken with learner’s learning; • teacher takes risks with personal work; • learners’ originality and innovation is encouraged; • teacher is self critical; • directed and non-directed approaches are balanced; • selection of teaching ‘content’ reflects learners’ needs; • learners’ mental modelling is scaffolded; • has relevant up-to-date knowledge of subject; • has relevant up-to-date skills in subject; • teacher is personally creative; • scepticism promoted; • self-expression encouraged; • questioning promoted and encouraged; • self-monitoring and reflexivity embedded in learning; • learners challenge assumptions about tasks

13. Effective Learner Attributes • natural curiosity and reflectiveness of approach shown ; • learner’s motivation and single-mindedness to improve; • effective exploration of ideas prior to learner’s action; • self-monitoring and reflexivity embedded in learning; • Effective accommodation of support from within school; • Effective accommodation of support from external agents.