Research on COVID-19: A microcosm to discuss scientific work in Science Teaching

Abstract

The present article uses the description of the "circulatory system" (sensu Latour) oftechno-science around COVID-19 - in particular regarding the development ofvaccines and scientific evidence on the treatment of symptoms - as a didacticproposition for Science Teaching, showing how current events can and should alsobe mobilized as substrate for the critical understanding of the Nature of Science inthe classroom. From the description of the various actors involved in the COVID-19event, we discuss how it is possible to articulate scientific knowledge and criticaldiscussions about the Nature of Science to mobilize scientific literacy - that is, themastery and internalization of a properly scientific way of looking at the natural andsocial worlds, while at the same time rejecting negationism and absolutism about asupposedly univocal and linear science. The COVID-19 event allows us tounderstand the role of supposedly "alien" actors to technosciences as part of thewhole "circulatory system", combining Latour's stance with feminist perspectives,such as Helen Longino's, on objectivity and inter-subjectivity, and how theseelements can be articulated to promote scientific literacy.