Innovative science within and against a culture of “achievement”

Abstract

ABSTRACT:As science educators struggle to reform science education, we need a better understanding of the conundrums associated with the ways educators enact innovative science within and against the "academic," "rigorous," and "elite" sociohistorical constructions of science. I ethnographically investigated the meanings of an innovative, reform-based curriculum (Active Physics) in various micro (classroom) and macro (school and community) contexts. I conducted the study in a high school serving primarily upper middle class students, the majority of whom (97%) planned to attend college. I explored how meanings of the curriculum transformed as the curriculum traveled across space and time. While certain aspects of the context enabled innovative science (e.g., support from the administration, pressure to serve a wider range of students), other aspects of the context constrained the potential of the curriculum (e.g., the need to establish for students, parents, and administrators the legitimacy of Active Physics as "real" and "rigorous" physics). Using practice theory to understand the influence of context and agency in shaping school science practice, this study demonstrates the potential for viewing meanings of science in local settings as partially fluid entities, sometimes reproducing and sometimes contesting sociohistorical legacies.

The cultural production of science in reform‐based physics: Girls' access, participation, and resistance

“…Every girl in this classroom reported to me that she was taking this class because ''it was the next one in the sequence for college-bound students'' or because ''it looks good on my transcript.'' These girls, within a culture of achievement in which it was a near certainty that they would attend college (Carlone, 2003b), accepted what Paul Willis (1977) called the dominant educational paradigm; they believed in teaching as a fair exchange, and they believed in the ways school defined success (i.e., via grades and college admission). In this sense, the Active Physics class was not supposed to be anything other than what it was-a way for them to get the credentials to put on their transcript so that they could gain access to an institute of higher education.…”

“…Elsewhere, I have reported the ways in which girls participated in ''Regular Physics'' (a class that used a traditional physics curriculum) at Sunnyglen High School (Carlone, 2003a) and the ways in which the meaning of the Active Physics at Sunnyglen High School curriculum got transformed as it traveled across space and time (Carlone, 2003b). The results of these ethnographic studies help make sense of the data I present here; thus, I will refer occasionally to the findings of these studies in my analysis.…”

“…As a caveat, in describing the more alienating meanings of science and scientist in Active Physics, I do not wish to denigrate the teacher's efforts in enacting a reform-based science. Elsewhere, I provide an explanation for why this course became more traditional and ''difficult'' as it traveled across space and time (see Carlone, 2003b). In examining the local context and history of Active Physics at Sunnyglen High School, I found that its difficulty in gaining legitimacy in the school (to be seen as a ''real''/''rigorous'' physics class) put pressures on the course in ways that might explain the course's evolution from an ''accessible'' physics course to what the other Active Physics teacher described as a difficult, ''college level course.''…”

‘Slow Science’: Building scientific concepts in physics in high school

“…This situation is particularly true for physics, as this is probably the most tightly guarded of all the sciences (Angell, Guttersrud, Building physics in high school 5 Henriksen & Isnes, 2004). Carlone (2003) coined the term "prototypical" physics to describe the traditional practices and beliefs about science that have prevailed for decades. According to her, prototypical physics, envisioned as difficult, hierarchical, and objective, is still reproduced in everyday school practices, often masked as allegedly "reformed" physics.…”

Balancing Cost and Value: Scandinavian Students’ First Year Experiences of Encountering Science and Technology Higher Education

“…Concerning the substantial group of students who expressed that they needed to put more time and effort into studying than expected, it is not possible to state whether it was the students or the institutions that had unrealistic expectations of the effort to be invested by students. However, previous research has shown that upper-secondary school students generally perceive STEM studies (especially physics) as hard and demanding (Angell, Guttersrud, Henriksen, & Isnes, 2004;Carlone, 2003;Lyons & Quinn, 2010). In this perspective, it is noteworthy that so many of the students were surprised by the workload.…”