Science Education, the environment and social justice

Supervisor: Dr Lynda Dunlop

A) Rationale for the project

Whilst science education has the potential to contribute to more equitable environments and societies, it can also serve to reinforce oppressive systems and practices. Inequities across race, class, and gender persist in science education, and also in who experiences exposure to environmental risks.

This project will examine the role that science education can play in bringing about social justice through an analysis of policies and practices that can be used to empower students in science education, with particular attention to how environmental issues are treated in science education.

B) References that should be read (if you do not have access to these, please email lynda.dunlop@york.ac.uk)

Barton, A. C. (2003). Teaching science for social justice. New York:Teachers College Press.

Bencze, L. (Ed.). (2017). Science and technology education promoting wellbeing for individuals, societies and environments: STEPWISE. Cultural Studies of Science Education Vol. 14. Cham: Springer.

Bencze, J. L. (2018). Introducing STEPWISE. Journal for Activist Science and Technology Education, 9(1). https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/jaste/article/view/29788

Davis, N. R., & Schaeffer, J. (2019). Troubling troubled waters in elementary science education: Politics, ethics & black children’s conceptions of water [justice] in the era of Flint. Cognition and Instruction, 37(3), 367-389. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2019.1624548

Dimick, A. S. (2012). Student empowerment in an environmental science classroom: Toward a framework for social justice science education. Science Education, 96(6), 990-1012. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21035

Freire, P. (1974). Education for critical consciousness. London: Bloomsbury.

Gorski, P. C., & Pothini, S. G. (2013). Case studies on diversity and social justice education. Routledge.

Morales‐Doyle, D. (2017). Justice‐centered science pedagogy: A catalyst for academic achievement and social transformation. Science Education, 101(6), 1034-1060. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21305

Raveendran, A. (2021). Invoking the political in socioscientific issues: A study of Indian students' discussions on commercial surrogacy. Science Education, 105(1), 62-98. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21601

Reiss, M. J. (2003). Science Education for Social Justice. In C. Vincent (Ed.), Social Justice, Education and Identity. London:Routledge

Roth, W.-M., & Calabrese Barton, A. (2004). Rethinking Scientific Literacy. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

C) Research aims / questions

The aim of this project is to explore the potential for science education to contribute to social and environmental justice, with particular attention to the teaching of environmental issues in primary or secondary education, i.e. during years of compulsory education. You might focus on issues relating to the climate, water or air. Whilst this project will necessarily involve an analysis of the wider social, political and educational context, you might focus on educators (e.g. teachers or teacher educators), students, policy and/or practice.

D) Methods

The methods you use will be determined by your research questions, reading and supervision. Your approach will probably be qualitative, and the methods you use might include interviews, focus groups, observation, document analysis and critical discourse analysis. This project lends itself to co-creation and open science practices and to a case study design.