Values and Knowledge Education (VaKE) in Teacher Education: Benefits for Science Pre-service Teachers when Using Dilemma Stories

Abstract

With the new Australian science curriculum, one considerable change is the emphasis on science as a human endeavour. For many pre-service teachers, science at school and university was presented as factual, value free and without exploring science's complex role in society. Drawing on Patry, Weyringer, and Weinberger's (2007) Values and Knowledge Education (VaKE), we present a dilemma story about a proposal to irrigate an Australian river system. It outlines the personal struggle of one family juggling declining farming income with their child's tertiary ambition to study in the city. Pre-service teachers were asked to decide on whether or not the environmentally conservative family should irrigate their land. Can pre-service teachers see benefits for using VaKE in their future teaching of science? Using the lesson interruption method (Patry & Weinberger, 2004), data was collected on several occasions. The analysis of the data revealed most pre-service teachers explored personal, local and global issues from science and non-science domains, respecting different perspectives, with some changing their decision. Engagement with the task varied, some recognised the importance of ‘investigating’ social issues through science and science through social issues. Others, however espoused that science was about facts and correct answers, where teachers delivered the answers to problems rather than encourage debate. Interestingly, the same scientific evidence was used by most to justify their decisions both in favour or against irrigation! This raises further questions about the role of science education in developing scientifically literate citizens through education.