STEM Discussion Group: Science Teacher Education as Emancipatory Practices: for epistemic and social justice

27th January 2022 : 11:00 - 12:00

Abstract

UNESCO’s (2021) Reimagining Our Futures Together A New Social Contract for Education asserts we are at a historical juncture that requires us to re-vision knowledge, and to rethink the purpose of education in a time of post-truth and post-democracy (Mooney Simmie, 2021). The literature on Nature of Science (NOS) advocates for new approaches to support science teachers in ways that are pedagogically, ethically and scientifically sound and philosophically inspiring (Cobern & Loving, 2020). Here, I draw from Fraser’s Scales of Justice (2009) to examine questions of why, how and in what ways science teacher education intersects with moral and political philosophy and advocates for science teachers as problem posers, for epistemic and social justice in an increasingly unequal and diversified globalizing world and planet. The paper argues for critical literacies, in any understanding of scientific literacy and for access to powerful content knowledge for science teacher education as emancipatory practices.

Author Bio

Geraldine Mooney Simmie PhD. M.Sc. is Director of EPI*STEM The National Centre for STEM Education at the School of Education in the University of Limerick. Geraldine lectures in Policy Studies to doctoral students and her PhD was a policy study between Ireland and Norway in post-compulsory science and mathematics teacher education (Trinity College, Dublin, 2009). Geraldine’s research interest is in emancipatory teaching and teacher learning, the intersection between STEM teacher education, epistemic justice, social justice, gender justice, ethics and democracy. Geraldine has published ISI papers in her research topic of emancipatory teaching and teacher learning in Educational Review (2021); Studies in Philosophy and Education (2020); Critical Studies in Education (2019); Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (2019) and the Journal of Education Policy (2017). In the last decade, Geraldine took part in four European Commission Comenius 2.1 research and development projects in science teacher education and learning.