Science Education for Democracy and Sustainability: A Transnational Critique of Policy Texts in a Fast-Globalizing Reform Ensemble
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| Title: | Science Education for Democracy and Sustainability: A Transnational Critique of Policy Texts in a Fast-Globalizing Reform Ensemble |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Geraldine Mooney Simmie, Sara Tolbert |
| Source: | Democracy & Education. 2025 33(2). |
| Availability: | Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling. 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road MSC 93, Portland, OR 97219. Tel: 503-768-6054; Fax: 503-768-6053; e-mail: journal@lclark.edu; Web site: http://democracyeducationjournal.org/home |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 11 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Science Education, Democracy, Sustainability, Educational Policy, Policy Analysis, Global Approach, Educational Change, Civics, Science and Society, Foreign Countries, Comparative Education, Discourse Analysis, Inclusion, Social Justice, Curriculum Development |
| Geographic Terms: | Ireland, New Zealand |
| ISSN: | 1085-3545 2164-7992 |
| Abstract: | In a fast-globalizing reform ensemble, we reframe science education for a concept of civic engagement connected to a new social contract for democracy and sustainability. The American philosopher of education John Dewey, writing in the early 1900s, asserted that democracy requires a facelift with each generation in order to respond to the urgent needs of the moment. Dewey asserted that education acts as a midwife in the delivery of democracy. In this transnational comparative study, we conduct a generative critique of science education reforms in two democratic nation states, Ireland and New Zealand. We draw from critical and feminist perspectives in order to conduct a discourse analysis of two frequently used themes in science education reforms: (1) inclusion and (2) civic engagement. We scrutinize two curriculum policy documents, one in each country to critically interrogate the framing between science education and democracy and to advocate for a radical reimagining of science education in the Anthropocene. Our scrutiny reveals unexamined assumptions in science education reforms in both countries underpinned by a strong logical positivist tradition. Our study provides a suitable theory and method to interrogate discourses in ways that hold complexities and nuances in play and foregrounds care and justice. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Access URL: | https://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol33/iss2/4/ |
| Accession Number: | EJ1487314 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | In a fast-globalizing reform ensemble, we reframe science education for a concept of civic engagement connected to a new social contract for democracy and sustainability. The American philosopher of education John Dewey, writing in the early 1900s, asserted that democracy requires a facelift with each generation in order to respond to the urgent needs of the moment. Dewey asserted that education acts as a midwife in the delivery of democracy. In this transnational comparative study, we conduct a generative critique of science education reforms in two democratic nation states, Ireland and New Zealand. We draw from critical and feminist perspectives in order to conduct a discourse analysis of two frequently used themes in science education reforms: (1) inclusion and (2) civic engagement. We scrutinize two curriculum policy documents, one in each country to critically interrogate the framing between science education and democracy and to advocate for a radical reimagining of science education in the Anthropocene. Our scrutiny reveals unexamined assumptions in science education reforms in both countries underpinned by a strong logical positivist tradition. Our study provides a suitable theory and method to interrogate discourses in ways that hold complexities and nuances in play and foregrounds care and justice. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1085-3545 2164-7992 |
