A HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRED HISTORICAL APPROACH TO TEACHING SCIENCE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Abstract

"The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light uncomfortable realizations for science educators; it has become patently obvious how much confusion and misunderstanding there exist about basic scientific facts that could help one make informed decisions, from individual choices to policy making at all levels of government. The extreme polarity in public and private discourses related to COVID-19 might be augmented by political views, economic interests and social media algorithms, but at the bottom of it all there is a lack of understanding of scientific concepts and of the nature of science, as well as its sociocultural and historical contexts. There is also a lot of skepticism about science and scientists. This skepticism is not completely out of place; historically, there are embarrassing large numbers of cases in which human rights were infringed in the name of advancements of scientific knowledge. There are also incredible contributions of science to upholding and improving human rights. Whereas scientific discoveries are presented by the media as noteworthy and celebrated, there is a lack of intentional exploration and meaningful discussion of the “ups and downs” of science throughout its history and across cultures in the context of its relationship with human rights. To address this issue, I developed and implemented two courses designed for pre-service and in-service teachers, exploring the rather turbulent history of science and human rights from ancient times to the present day, from a perspective that considers both science and human rights within social, cultural and historical contexts, and highlights the contributions of science to human rights causes, from both negative and positive cases. Rather than promoting a naïve view of science as an a-cultural practice, detached from its sociocultural and historical context, and uncritical of the hegemonic Western, Judeo-Christian, White, male, heteronormative and colonial grounds on which rests the mainstream science presented in grade school textbooks, the courses pushed the boundaries of the very definition of science and its role in human rights causes, challenging students to consider the many implications of how we define, present and study science in schools, as well as how we promote and use scientific knowledge in our lives. Students in the courses were challenged to (re)envision science and human rights as they critically analyzed predominant Discourses from an eco-pedagogical social-cultural and historical perspective. A description of the courses and results evidencing the impact of the courses on students’ conceptualizations of science education for social change are reported in this conference presentation."