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Forwarding a ‘science-ethics nexus’ to critique and reorient science education pedagogy toward greater social and ecological justice

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Abstract

In this paper, I engage with arguments put forth by Blue Mahy in his article “A speculative-posthumanist examination of the ‘science-ethics nexus’ in Australian secondary schools.” Mahy argues that by using relational posthumanist concepts as a diffractive lens, his critiques of Australian school science standards find the underlying hegemonies of masculine, Euro-Western ideologies that infuse the stance on ethics in science education. He uses a ‘plug in process’ of posthumanist concepts to generate a ‘speculative fiction’. This is a method used to reclaim ethics and science by creating narratives produced by the diffracted projections of posthumanist concepts. In my own research on science teacher education, I explore Mahy's use of diffraction for both critiquing science curriculum and providing projections for future ethical commitments in school science education. I utilize data from my science methods course which is situated in Central California’s agricultural region at a largely Hispanic-Serving Institution.

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  1. Turlock, CA, USA

    Adam Devitt

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  1. Adam Devitt
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Lead Editor: K. Scantlebury.

This review essay addresses issues raised in Blue Mahy’s article, “A speculative-posthumanist examination of the ‘science-ethics nexus’ in Australian secondary schools.

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Devitt, A. Forwarding a ‘science-ethics nexus’ to critique and reorient science education pedagogy toward greater social and ecological justice. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 17, 1039–1046 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-021-10069-1

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