Epistemic and Political Confrontations Around the Public Policies to Fight COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Our purpose in this article is to discuss the roles for HPSS in Science Education considering the crisis of COVID-19, as well as to think what Science Education could look like beyond the pandemic. Considering the context of a pandemic as a starting point, we defend in this article the thesis that contours of public controversy involving COVID-19 bring elements that allow us to argue that Science Education needs to embrace perspectives that highlight politics as co-constitutive of science, and not in a subsidiary role to it. To defend this thesis, we begin with a theoretical framework based on arguments of science studies and from exemplary cases from history of science. Then, we analyze some of the public controversies surrounding COVID-19, in its most central aspects, trying to interpret how intertwining between science and politics took place. Brazilian case is analyzed in more details. Finally, based on educational scholarship and considering the previous discussions, we propose some implications for Science Education research and practices, both concerning the role of HPSS in its teaching and discussing critically boundaries of this research field.

Not Only Why but Also How to Trust Science: Reshaping Science Education Based on Science Studies for a Better Post-pandemic World

“…From such a view, it is possible to recognize that science is a practice that co-produces nature and society, formed in the tension between political and epistemic clashes. Such a sociopolitical view of science and scientific education also matches that of different studies on ​​Science Education (Gutiérrez, 2013 ; Hodson, 1994 , 2003 ; Sjöström and Eilks, 2018 ; Moura et al, 2021 ).…”

“…This not only means that scientific knowledge affects social relations, but that it results from an intense political process. Recently, we carried out a discussion about the initial stage of the pandemic, highlighting epistemic and political entanglements (Moura et al, 2021 ). In such a cosmopolitical process, a question that must be taken into account is who are those who participate or have the right to participate in the construction of the common world?…”

“…This requires these teachers to develop a dialogical education (Freire, 2018 ), centered on the horizontality of knowledge and respect for different points of view. Based on the proposals for a socio-political turn in science and mathematics education (Hodson, 1994 ; Gutiérrez, 2013 , Tolbert and Bazzul, 2017 ; Moura et al, 2021 ), we defend an educational rupture in terms of curriculum, reducing the emphasis on specific content and adopting local socio-scientific criteria. Similar to what has already been discussed in other social spaces (Alsop and Bencze, 2014 ; Bencze, 2017 ; Sjöström and Eilks, 2018 ), our proposal moves towards not only valuing, but also thinking about education and sciences from the uniqueness of the different contexts.…”

História da Ciência & COVID-19: Oportunidades e Constrangimentos no Ensino em Portugal

“…Na realidade, ao analisar a situação pandémica atual, é possível compreender, entre outros aspetos, que a evolução da ciência está muito associada aos interesses do ser humano (com esta situação foram vários os estudos e projetos desenvolvidos para compreender melhor a doença e para desenvolver terapêuticas, nomeadamente vacinas e antivirais) e que o conhecimento científico se altera e está muito dependente de financiamento (pudemos assistir à abertura de vários concursos para financiamento de uma diversidade de projetos relacionados com a COVID-19), sendo muito afetado pela realidade envolvente (foram vários os estudos desenvolvidos acerca do impacto da pandemia na educação, na economia, entre outros). De facto, todo este cenário atual permite compreender a relação intrincada que existe entre a ciência, a sociedade, a economia e as decisões políticas (Moura, Nascimento & Lima, 2021;Revel Chion & Adúriz-Bravo, 2021).…”

“…Por um lado, toda esta situação pandémica conferiu um destaque particular à Ciência, lançando também alguns reptos à própria educação em Ciências. Na realidade, para tomar decisões informadas, conscientes e responsáveis, perante todos os desafios que a própria pandemia coloca, é fundamental que os alunos desenvolvam conhecimentos sobre a mesma, desenvolvam competências e que compreendam a Ciência, a sua importância e as suas características, particularmente como esta se relaciona com o contexto social, económico e político (Revel Chion & Adúriz-Bravo, 2021;Moura, Nascimento & Lima, 2021;Torres, 2021).…”