Looking back at “our science” and “our history”: an exploration of Korean preservice science teachers’ encounters with East Asian history of science

Wonyong Park,Jinwoong Song

doi:10.1007/s11422-021-10060-w

Abstract

Despite the long-standing interest among science educators in using history of science in science teaching, little has been discussed around whether and how non-Western histories of science could be incorporated into science education. This study considers some opportunities and challenges of addressing East Asian history of science (EAHOS) in the science teacher education context, drawing on postcolonial science studies and global history of science. Eight undergraduate preservice science teachers (PSTs) participated in sessions on EAHOS. Our aim was to investigate the PSTs’ perceptions relating to the nature of EAHOS and its relevance to science teaching. Using interviews and reflective essays, we explore the tension coming from their dual positions as science teachers and East Asian people as they entered into the unfamiliar territory of EAHOS. When they were considering themselves specifically as science teachers, they tended to focus on the aspects of EAHOS as knowledge and concluded that it has little to do with achieving the aims of science teaching because is not part of modern science. On the contrary, when they were talking about their roles as teachers in general, they were able to come up with several educational benefits that EAHOS can offer to students, particularly in its relation to worldview and history. Additionally, several mixed feelings were expressed about the way EAHOS is often portrayed as “our” history about “our” science. Overall, the experience of exploring and discussing EAHOS provided the PSTs with an opportunity to critically reflect on science education and their responsibility as teachers in the context of broader society and culture.

Highlights

Many peoples in the pre-modern world developed their own ways of making sense of nature
Among the many non-Western histories of science, this paper focuses on the East Asian history of science (EAHOS), the history of scientific thought, activities, and artifacts in China and Korea (see Sivin (1988) and Kim (1982) for an overview of EAHOS as an academic discipline)
As an early effort to incorporate EAHOS into the history of science course, we aimed to explore the potential of such a course in developing preservice science teachers (PSTs)’ awareness of the relationship between indigenous science, Western modern science, and history of science in the East Asian context

Summary

Introduction

Many peoples in the pre-modern world developed their own ways of making sense of nature. In her book Cultivating Humanity (1998), refers to an innovative university course where the Chinese history of science was used to cultivate world citizenship In this course, a team of four academics from philosophy, history of science, art history, and comparative literature at an American university designed a course focusing on achievements in ancient Greece and Rome across art, science, and politics, while comparing it with those in China during the same historical period (Nussbaum 1998). A team of four academics from philosophy, history of science, art history, and comparative literature at an American university designed a course focusing on achievements in ancient Greece and Rome across art, science, and politics, while comparing it with those in China during the same historical period (Nussbaum 1998) This course, says Nussbaum (1998), allowed students to understand what was distinct about the Western tradition from a fresh point of view, partly through contrasting it to the Chinese tradition. The study aimed to answer the following two questions: 1. What do the PSTs perceive as the nature of EAHOS as they learn about it in a history of science course?

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