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Stories of reform in science education: commentary on opp(reg)ressive policies and tempered radicals

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Abstract

This response to the two papers (by Rodriguez and Carlone et al.) on science education reform acknowledges first the coherence of the arguments presented around four reform narratives; that of the process of becoming science-enthusiastic, the nature of beliefs of science reform teachers, the barriers to reform, and the institutional expressions of these barriers. In the commentary I first discuss the reform ‘problem’ in terms of two interacting issues—the purposes of school science and the value placed on it in an elementary school curriculum. The insights produced in these papers are then used to reflect on a range of experiences and current policy debates in Australia. Finally, in this commentary, I point out: (a) the relationship of the papers to the reform issue of opposition to Standards Based Science (SBS) from proponents’ traditional conceptions of science education, discussing how this more specific reform question relates to the two papers; and (b) the singular nature of the I-meanings characterised in the Carlone et al. paper, describing (using Australian examples) how the notions of tempered radicals and I-meanings might also be used to characterise complexities in the processes of school science reform.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Deakin University, Pigdons Rd, Waurn Ponds, VIC, 3217, Australia

    Russell Tytler

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  1. Russell Tytler
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Correspondence to Russell Tytler.

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This review essay addresses issues raised in Alberto Rodriguez’ paper entitled: Exposing the impact of opp(reg)ressive policies on teacher development and on student learning and in Heidi Carlone, Julie Haun-Frank, and Sue Kimmel's paper: Tempered radicals: elementary teachers’ narratives of teaching science within and against prevailing meanings of schooling.

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Tytler, R. Stories of reform in science education: commentary on opp(reg)ressive policies and tempered radicals. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 5, 967–976 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-010-9277-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-010-9277-3

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