Courageous Pedagogy: Enacting Critical Science Education

159 Pages·2012·12.097 MB·English

by  Andrew Gilbert

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Grounded in classroom practice and constructed around powerful theory, by truly merging critical politics lb COURAGEOUS PEDAGOGY
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with the teaching of science, Andrew Gilbert's Courageous Pedagogy is a breakthrough in critical science r
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education.
—Wayne Au, Assistant Professor, University of Washington-Bothell. Editor, Rethinking Schools, and
author of Critical Curriculum Studies: Education, Consciousness, and the Politics of Knowing. Enacting Critical
Gilbert's text pushes me to rethink my own priorities in science education and why we do this work in the
first place. Courageous Pedagogy forces the reader to deeply reconsider science education as traditional
knowledge acquisition, and instead see the possibility of individual and societal transformations. This work
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is not only important, it's inspiring. o
—Adam Johnston, Professor of Physics & Associate Director for Science Teacher Education, Center for u
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Science & Math Education, Weber State University. a
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In his brilliant and passionate book, Andrew Gilbert shares findings from real science classrooms, along u
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with elements of Critical Science Education, transformative pedagogy and a twist of Marxism to challenge P Andrew Gilbert
the commodification of science education and the joylessness of traditional science learning. When he e
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writes of hope, it’s not about the hope that the United States competes and wins in the global economy,
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but rather the hope of respectful, challenging and meaningful curriculum and practices for each and every g
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student. Dr. Gilbert explains that the “anger and apathy” exhibited by too many high school science g
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students is not a reflection on the students’ character or disposition, but on the system of schooling that :
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insults their intelligence and underestimates their potential contributions. Andrew shares their anger, but n
not their apathy. His deep commitment to learners, to science and to education inspires the reader to a
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recall that somewhere along the line, we all love science—the wonder and the joy of it—and that we love t
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our students and respect their capacity for “infinite possibilities.” g
—Sheri Leafgren, Assistant Professor, Miami University Oxford. Nationally Board Certified teacher and C
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author of Reuben’s Fall: A Rhizomatic Analysis of Disobedience in Kindergarten. i
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Never has a study on science education, critical pedagogy and engaged teaching been more important l
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than it is now. With right-wing anti-intellectualism at an all-time high and with teach-to-the-test, high-stakes c
assessment dominating the educational discourse in the States, Australia and Europe, this volume by ie
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Gilbert is more important than ever. In it he eloquently weaves a compelling argument for critical student c
agency and learning through constructivist approaches to meaningful science education. Indeed, Gilbert e
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demonstrates, “resistance is not futile” by providing glimpses into engaged, liberatory, pedagogical d
practices—in science education and beyond. This is must reading for teacher education students and all u
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those interested in more deeply understanding, and engaging in, critical science education. a
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—Marc Pruyn, Senior Lecturer, Monash University, Melbourne Australia. His latest book, Can Teachers io
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Make a Difference? Experimenting with, and Experiencing, Democracy in Education, edited with Paul Carr
and David Zyngier, is also through IAP.
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Courageous Pedagogy:
Enacting Critical Science
Education

A Volume in:
Critical Constructions: Studies on Education and Society
Series Editor:
Curry Stephenson Malott
Critical Constructions:
Studies on Education and Society
Series Editor
Curry Stephenson Malott
West Chester University
Can Educators Make a Difference?
Experimenting with, and Experiencing, Democracy in Education (2012)
Edited by Paul R. Carr, David Zyngier, and Marc Pruyn
Challenging Status Quo Retrenchment:
New Directions in Critical Research (2012)
Edited by Tricia M. Kress, Curry Stephenson Malott, and Bradley Porfi lio
Pedagogies of Deveiling:
Muslim Girls and the Hijab Discourse (2012)
By Manal Hamzeh
Critical Pedagogy in the Twenty-First Century:
A New Generation of Scholars (2011)
Edited by Curry Stephenson Malott and Bradley Porfi lio
Critical-Service Learning as a Revolutionary Pedagogy:
An International Project of Student Agency in Action (2011)
Edited by Bradley Porfi lio and Heather Hickman
The Phenomenon of Obama and the Agenda for Education:
Can Hope Audaciously Trump Neoliberalism? (2011)
Edited by Paul R. Carr and Bradley Porfi lio
Parental Choice?
A Critical Reconsideration of Choice and the Debate about Choice (2010)
By P. L. Thomas
Power, Resistance, and Literacy:
Writing for Social Justice (2011)
Edited by Julie A. Gorlewski
Courageous Pedagogy:
Enacting Critical Science
Education

Andrew Gilbert
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
INFORMATION AGE PUBLISHING, INC.
Charlotte, NC (cid:129) www.infoagepub.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gilbert, Andrew (Senior lecturer), author.
Courageous pedagogy : enacting critical science education / Andrew
Gilbert, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
pages cm. -- (Critical constructions: studies on education and
society)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-62396-067-4 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-62396-068-1 (hardcover) --
ISBN (invalid) 978-1-62396-069-8 (ebook) 1. Science--Study and teaching.
2. Critical pedagogy. I. Title.
Q181.G393 2012
507.1--dc23
2012037909
Copyright © 2013 Information Age Publishing Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, microfi lming, recording or otherwise, without written permission
from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Introduction ..................................................................................ix
1. The Politics of Science and the Science Education Standards .......1
2. Contextual Issues Surrounding Science Education ........................9
3. Mr. Smith’s Pedagogy—Schooling as Compliance .......................23
4. Mr. Hill’s Pedagogy—Enacting Critical Science Education ..........37
5. Pedagogical Choices Shaped by Beliefs About Students—Mr.
Smith.............................................................................................49
6. Pedagogical Choices Shaped by Beliefs about Students—Mr.
Hill ................................................................................................63
7. Classroom Discourse and Its Associated Impact on Student
Identity ..........................................................................................79
8. Resistance is Not Futile .................................................................87
9. Using Transformative Moments to Construct Critical Science
Stances .........................................................................................101
10. Concluding Thoughts ..................................................................119
Postscript .....................................................................................131
References ...................................................................................133
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This book is dedicated to the indomitable spirit of my mother, Caroline
M. Branca and to the memory of my father, Charles E. Gilbert.
Miss you Pops.

INTRODUCTION
As a teacher and educator, I began to question my own teacher training
when I entered my very fi rst classroom in the suburbs of Washington DC
in 1993. I had just graduated from a well-respected university with a degree
in Geology and teaching certifi cation in Earth Science and Secondary General
Science. Obtaining my science certifi cations in the state of Virginia only re-
quired that I take one semester of coursework that contained two six-week
classes in the areas of Educational Psychology and Educational Foundations,
followed by a ten-week student teaching internship in a local secondary
school. The program was clearly steeped in preparing traditional secondary
science teachers and leaned heavily on pedagogic approaches supported
by behaviorist learning theories. Needless to say, that with only sixteen ad-
ditional semester credits on top of my Geology degree and no formal sci-
ence methods training, I should have expected to experience some serious
diffi culties in the classroom. And I most certainly had my share of diffi cult
times particularly during the fi rst several months of my career.
This fi rst teaching assignment had me teaching Earth Science to a group
of students who were identifi ed as ‘drop-out’ risks and consequently placed
within a special program that created a ninth grade team at the high school
to ‘bridge’ them from their prior middle school experience into high
Courageous Pedagogy: Enacting Critical Science Education, pages ix–xv.
Copyright © 2013 by Information Age Publishing
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ix