In Pursuit of Authenticity in Science Education

Anker-Hansen, Jens; Andrée, Maria

doi:10.5617/nordina.4723

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These experiences align with Gilbert's (2006) notion of 'context as a social circumstance' , in which students and the teacher jointly work with real-life problems that are considered important to the lives of their community. Contributing and communicating scientific findings to the local community is one way to promote authenticity in science education (Anker-Hansen & Andreé, 2019;Grossman et al, 2019). In the present study, the authentic experience was enabled by the involvement of STEM professionals from a local transport company.…”

Section: Discrepancy Between Context and Commissionmentioning

confidence: 83%

A qualitative study of teachers’ and students’ experiences with a context-based curriculum unit designed in collaboration with STEM professionals and science educators

Kostøl

Remmen

2022

Discip Interdscip Sci Educ Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context-based science teaching aims to increase students’ motivation for science learning by demonstrating the personal and societal relevance of science knowledge and practices. However, designing and implementing context-based science teaching can be challenging for teachers. Moreover, context-based learning can be challenging for students as well. The purpose of this study is to describe the experiences of two science teachers and their 16-year-old students after implementing a context-based curriculum unit designed in collaboration with STEM professionals and facilitated by us – science educators and researchers. The research approach is informed by participatory methods involving collaboration between teachers and us as science educators, with the intention of supporting teachers in developing new teaching practices. Data were collected through three focus group interviews with two teachers and two groups of students (N = 9). The transcripts were analysed by inductive coding combined with a refined, literature-driven analysis. Besides positive influences on students’ learning, we found that the context-based curriculum provided an opportunity for the students to contribute to society, which served as another purpose for learning science than traditional science teaching. However, we discuss some challenges that may have implications for this type of collaboration between teachers, science educators, and STEM professionals: the importance of authenticity, teacher involvement in field trip planning, and misalignment between the curriculum unit and assessment.

show abstract

Section: Discrepancy Between Context and Commissionmentioning

confidence: 83%

A qualitative study of teachers’ and students’ experiences with a context-based curriculum unit designed in collaboration with STEM professionals and science educators

Kostøl

Remmen

2022

Discip Interdscip Sci Educ Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A 2019 review of science education literature [12] found that authenticity as a term is used most commonly to mean at least one of the following: activities that are comparable to methods and challenges of practicing scientists, activities that are grounded in the world of the students or activities that involve inquiry-based methods. Of these three, particularly the first one is traditionally promoted, since what purpose does science education serve if it is not even comparable to the science it purports to represent?…”

Section: Theoretical Framework -Authenticity Openness and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Competence through authenticity – open data in education

Veteli,

Lassila-Perini

2024

J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The modern world is a very data-driven place, bristling with repositories of openly available information, yet these resources are seldom used in education below university levels. This may partially be due to lack of sufficient teacher training and ongoing support structures, but also due to lack of information on useful methods. We present the case for secondary school level use of open, authentic real world data and easily accessible programming as cross-disciplinary tools for advancing the students’ scientific literacy and broader subject knowledge. The use of computational essays and interactive programming exercises promotes modern ways of knowledge creation and allows the students to participate in doing science as practising scientists and industry workers would. Feedback from teacher trainings, student workshops and school courses between 2016-2022 indicates a very positive reception with topics ranging widely from analysis of particle physics data from the CMS experiment at CERN to climate questions or sociological problems.

show abstract

“…To complicate matters, authenticity itself is a contended concept (Burgin, 2020;Martin et al, 1990;Murphy et al, 2006) (3) authenticity as pertaining to the reality of school (be it with reference to curricula or to the forms of interaction in classes). The first two perspectives are the ones most often addressed in recent research literature (Anker-Hansen & Andrée, 2019).…”

Section: Five Critiques On Scientific Inquiry In Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reintroducing “the” Scientific Method to Introduce Scientific Inquiry in Schools?

Emden

2021

Sci & Educ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There are some crucial critiques on scientific inquiry and “the” Scientific Method in current science education. Recent research literature is replete with arguments against inquiry’s legitimacy to be included in science classes, and it has even been abandoned from the Next Generation Science Standards. Critics of scientific inquiry in schools blame it to be a caricature of authentic inquiry suffering from five shortcomings: (1) knowledge becomes desocialized from its generative contexts, (2) scientific inquiry in schools suggests methodological monism favoring (3) a primacy of experimentation, (4) which portrays scientific inquiry as a knowledge automaton (5) raising an illusion of determination with regard to the generation of knowledge. This article argues for a reorientation of scientific inquiry in schools tentatively embracing “the” Scientific Method anew since critics appear not to sufficiently consider that scientific inquiry operates differently in schools from science. It will be shown that most critiques can be defused when untangling such an illegitimate mix-up of science proper with school science. It will be argued that current (and recent) descriptions of how science generates knowledge lack authoritative validity and should be fundamentally revisited. “The” Scientific Method will be shown to be a valid idealization that can serve as a frame of reference for introductory science classes. Still, it is understood that science education needs to extend beyond “the” Scientific Method if it is to prepare for science-related careers.

show abstract

In Pursuit of Authenticity in Science Education

Cited by 15 publications

References 45 publications

A qualitative study of teachers’ and students’ experiences with a context-based curriculum unit designed in collaboration with STEM professionals and science educators

A qualitative study of teachers’ and students’ experiences with a context-based curriculum unit designed in collaboration with STEM professionals and science educators

Competence through authenticity – open data in education

Reintroducing “the” Scientific Method to Introduce Scientific Inquiry in Schools?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About