The potential of “civic science education”: Theory, research, practice, and uncertainties

Abstract

This paper explores the potential of civic science education (CSE), which includes experiences that have been intentionally designed to foster or enhance individuals’ interactions with and/or engagement in science‐related public matters. To begin, we provide a theoretically‐grounded definition of CSE, including three sub‐categories: foundational, exploratory, and purposefully active. We then explore the scholarly arguments for why enacting CSE could help to support students’ science learning and civic engagement and also strengthen civil society. Next, the paper examines current educational practices related to CSE, such as citizen science, exploring socioscientific issues, and various civic education pedagogies, detailing what researchers have learned from empirical studies of these practices. Building on this prior theory and research, we argue that CSE could motivate students both to learn science and become engaged in civic issues, with slightly different expected outcomes across the three CSE categories. We conclude by encouraging educators and researchers to explore the great potential of such practices, providing specific recommendations for curriculum development and empirical studies.

Humanistic science education: The history of science and other relevant contexts

“…In doing so, it extends the current humanistic school science agenda by advocating the civil duty of activism (Bencze et al, 2012). Levy et al (2021) detail “the great potential of such practices” (p. 1053) and CSE's potential “to have a tremendously positive impact on science education, civic engagement, and civil society” (p. 1067).…”

“…Besides teaching the history, philosophy, and the sociology of science, other types of humanistic school science include: STS (e.g., Gallagher, 1971; Hurd, 1975, 1998a, 1998b; Solomon & Aikenhead, 1994; Ziman, 1980), cultural studies (e.g., Aikenhead, 1997; McKinley, 1996, 2005; Stewart, 2005), science–technology–society–environment (STSE) (e.g., E. G. Pedretti et al, 2008; E. Pedretti, 2003), SSI (e.g., Zeidler & Sadler, 2011), and the recently proposed civic science education (CSE) (Levy et al, 2021).…”

“…A new humanistic research program, civic science education (CSE), was recently introduced by Levy et al (2021). It focuses locally on civic life, science, and education, with an emphasis on public, rather than on private, decisionmaking.…”

Civic science: Addressing racial inequalities in environmental and science, technology, engineering, and math education

“…Not only does the word citizen exclude some immigrants, but the practice can maintain power asymmetries between formally educated scientists who analyze and interpret data and citizens who collect it. By contrast, in CS, community members (including children and adolescents) determine issues, collect data, and interpret and act based on the results (Dillon et al, 2016; English et al, 2018; Levy et al, 2021). 3 Thus, CS expands the meaning and purpose of science, how and where it is conducted, whose insights are relevant, and who can do it.…”

Citizens’ views on home experiments in the context of a chemistry citizen science project

“…Civic participation: Citizen science can build transformative capacities by enabling citizens to get involved in processes relevant to society (Bela et al, 2016;Dillon et al, 2016;Turrini et al, 2018). Through collaborative learning processes, citizens are empowered to become actively engaged in scientific and environmental issues (Levy et al, 2021).…”