Science initial teacher education and superdiversity: educating science teachers for a multi-religious and globalised science classroom

Abstract

Steven Vertovec (2006, 2007) has recently offered a re-interpretation of population diversity in large urban centres due to a considerable increase in immigration patterns in the UK. This complex scenario called superdiversity has been conceptualised to help illuminate significant interactions of variables such as religion, language, gender, age, nationality, labour market and population distribution on a larger scale. The interrelationships of these themes have fundamental implications in a variety of community environments, but especially within our schools. Today, London schools have over 300 languages being spoken by students, all of whom have diverse backgrounds, bringing with them a wealth of experience and, most critically, their own set of religious beliefs. At the same time, Science is a compulsory subject in England's national curriculum, where it requires teachers to deal with important scientific frameworks about the world; teaching about the origins of the universe, life on Earth, human evolution and other topics, which are often in conflict with students' religious views. In order to cope with this dynamic and thought-provoking environment, science initial teacher education (SITE)-especially those catering large urban centres-must evolve to equip science teachers with a meaningful understanding of how to handle a superdiverse science classroom, taking the discourse of inclusion beyond its formal boundaries. Thus, this original position paper addresses how the role of SITE may be re-conceptualised and re-framed in light of the immense challenges of superdiversity as well as how science teachers, as enactors of the science curriculum, must adapt to cater to these changes. This is also the first in a series of papers emerging from an empirical research project trying to capture science teacher educators' own views on religioscientific issues and their positions on the place of these issues within science teacher education and the science classroom. Science and superdiversity Recently, Steven Vertovec (2006, 2007) offered a re-interpretation of population diversity in large urban constituencies due to a considerable increase in immigration patterns, especially within the UK. This scenario, dubbed superdiversity, has been conceptualised to help illuminate the significant and complex interactions of variables such as religion, language, gender, age, nationality, labour market and population distribution on a larger scale. The interrelationships between these themes have fundamental implications in a variety of community environments, but especially within our schools. Today, for example, London state schools have over 300 languages spoken (Von Ahn, Lupton, Greenwood and Wiggins 2010) by their students, all of whom have their own particular cultural background, bringing with them a wealth of experience and, most critically, their own set of religious or non-religious beliefs, worldviews and indigenous knowledge. Science is a compulsory subject in England's National Curriculum where it requires students to ...

How Does Initial Teacher Education Research Frame the Challenge of Preparing Future Teachers for Student Diversity in Schools? A Systematic Review of Literature

“…The majority of these papers argued the need for teacher educators to possess the same kinds of robust knowledge that they seek to develop in their students, positioning any possible lack of knowledge as a key constraint to be overcome. For example, writing in the United Kingdom, De Carvalho (2016) investigated the constraining nature of “science teacher educators’ views on religio-scientific issues and their positions on the place of these issues within science teacher education and the science classroom” (p. 253); in the United States of America, Assaf et al (2010) examined limitations associated with “teacher educators’ perspectives about multicultural education in an elementary and middle school teacher preparation program” (p. 116); and Wright (2016) argued that “early childhood teacher education faculty [in the United States] must be prepared to support sexual minority students in confronting decisions about disclosing their sexual orientation in the context of practicum” (p. 189), thereby identifying a potential way in which lack of knowledge could constrain teacher educators’ work.…”

Sistemas de Classificação Intuitiva como Possibilidade para o Ensino de Diversidade Animal no Contexto da Educação do Campo

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“…Há algumas décadas, a pesquisa em educação científica tem se tornado progressivamente mais consciente da necessidade de situar o ensino de ciências no contexto dos problemas e contradições sociais de nosso tempo, pressionando as fronteiras estabelecidas pela racionalidade técnica e pelo entendimento de que a aquisição de conhecimento é o único e principal objetivo do ensino de ciências. Nesse sentido, o espectro de problemas sociais abordados pela literatura é bastante amplo, podendo compreender questões de classe (Maulucci, Brown, Grey, & Sullivan, 2014), gênero (Kwah, Milne, Tsai, Goldman, & Plass, 2014), cor (Chapman, & Feldman, 2016;Ball, 2017) e religião (de Carvalho, 2016). Conforme esperado, o olhar da comunidade sobre esses temas está se adaptando constantemente às formas que a exclusão assume em cada tempo histórico, em cada lugar.…”

Die Anwendung naturwissenschaftlicher Untersuchungsmethoden inklusiv gestalten – Naturwissenschaftsdidaktische Theorie und Empirie erweitern mit dem Kategoriensystem inklusiver naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht (KinU)

“…Um das Verstehen von Nature of Science zu entwickeln, können neben materialgeleiteten Zugängen wie Visualisierungen und Strukturierungen auch handlungsbasier-te oder digitale Zugänge ermöglicht werden (Adesokan und Reiners 2015;Bodzin et al 2007;Mumba et al 2015;Puddu 2017). Als Lernbegleitung können Lehrkräfte das Verstehen von Nature of Science durch offene Dialoge, Fragen und Feedback ermöglichen (Bodzin et al 2007;de Carvalho 2016;Mulvey et al 2016). Besonders reflektierende Zugänge sind bedeutend für den inklusiven naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht, wenn zwischen unterschiedlichen Kulturen und Weltanschauungen vermittelt wird (de Carvalho 2016).…”