Abstract
The idea that knowledge may exist in different forms may present a conceptual challenge for many university teachers. Our experience has shown that STEM teachers tend to view knowledge through a singular epistemological lens, driven by their disciplinary background. Such a restricted view impedes the development of teaching beyond traditional transmission models. In order to help STEM academics engage with a broader view of knowledge (and so help their students to engage in meaningful learning that does not exclude deeply held cultural perspectives), we propose a gateway into the ecology of knowledges. In this case, the gateway is created by using the analogy of protein structure—a complex idea that science teachers will be familiar with, and which demonstrates the importance of multiple perspectives on a single object. In this conceptual paper, we offer this as a tool to support the adoption of a multi-epistemic appreciation of knowledge that may lead to a more scholarly approach to university teaching.
Highlights
University academics who are embedded in the culture of their discipline will tend to see ‘knowledge’ through their disciplinary lens
Academics are encouraged to adopt an epistemologically plural stance when it comes to the ‘ecology of knowledges’, as described by Santos [2], that might inform teacher development and provide new concepts and new terminology to help academics articulate their teaching practice. It has been shown by Skopec et al [3] that academics working in STEM subjects have difficulty recognizing knowledge that is constructed outside of their own epistemic community
Whilst the networks of knowledge-based experts that inhabit an epistemic community might engage in intense debates, this is different from the tensions created by the acknowledgment of other epistemic communities, whose beliefs might be seen to undermine the shared beliefs of the STEM community
Summary
University academics who are embedded in the culture of their discipline will tend to see ‘knowledge’ through their disciplinary lens. Whilst the networks of knowledge-based experts that inhabit an epistemic community might engage in intense debates, this is different from the tensions created by the acknowledgment of other epistemic communities, whose beliefs might be seen to undermine the shared beliefs of the STEM community In this conceptual paper, we interpret the complexity of the ecology of knowledges through an analogy from biochemistry that we feel will help academics working in STEM subjects to appreciate the plurality of knowledges and the value of the ‘consilience’, as developed by Wilson [4], that can be generated by acknowledging different epistemological perspectives. AAnn oovveerrvviieeww ooff tthhee pprrootteeiinn ssttrruuccttuurree aannaallooggyy aanndd hhooww iitt ccaann bbee aapppplliieedd ttoo tthhee ccoonnssiiddeerraattiioonn ooff kknnoowwlleeddggee ssttrruuccttuurreess ((KKSS))
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