Science Education Practices: Analysing Values and Knowledge

Abstract

Science education research and education are two different practices with the same goal of improving teaching and learning. However, while researchers look for what seems appropriate for good science education, teachers must also take other aspects of school life into consideration. Differences in what the practices relate to may lead to researchers and teachers having different views on values and knowledge embedded in educational practices. Value and knowledge conflicts are easily veiled in research as the researchers almost always define the perspectives and frameworks and how to conduct the analyses. Our aim is not to overcome such conflicts; instead, we regard values and knowledge as intertwined and find them operating on different levels of verbalisation and visibility in practice. In this chapter, we propose an analytical tool for investigating a practice’s values and knowledge. This tool may contribute to deeper descriptions and understandings of educational practices. Finally, we discuss the affordances of a tool that incorporates values into the analysis of educational practices in light of research ethics.