Science+Framing+paper+Response

The following comments are additional to those made in response to the online survey questions about each section of the document.  ·  Activity in Science that is focused on the connectedness of school activities to out of school experience and attempts to use student experiences as a context for __their__ learning.  ·  Provides opportunities to experience scientific knowledge as evolutionary, non-foundational, culturally and socially determined and arising from theory dependent inquiry.  ·  Attempts to empower students so that they are comfortable to question the teacher’s pedagogical plans and methods.  ·  Is prepared to share control of the learning environment with students; that is, the articulation of goals, design and management of activities and determination and application of assessment criteria.  ·  Gives students the opportunity to discuss, explain, negotiate and reflect on the viability of their own and other students’ learning. __ Concerns __ __ Challenges __ This is meant to be an educational revolution. May I challenge you to indeed be revolutionary? __References __ Blades, D.W. (1997) //Procedures of Power and Curriculum Change: Foucault and the Quest for Possibilities in Science Education//, New York, Peter Lang. Masters, G. (2008) address to the ACE Forum: Framing the National Curriculum, 24 November, University of Melbourne. Simpson, G. (2004) //Critical Constructivism, Neo-relativism and the place of values in Science Education//, Science Education Review, V3 n1 pp23-28 Townsend, T. (2004) //Maximising Learning in Third Millennium Classrooms//, address to the ACEL Victorian State Conference, 11 March, Barton TAFE
 * Response to the National Science Curriculum Framing Paper published November 2008**
 * 1) Congratulations for producing a curriculum framework that acknowledges that which is good in past and current practice and that attempts to meet the needs of our students in the 21st Century and beyond. It is important to recognize that the 5 year old students entering Preparatory year in 2011 are likely to be alive in the 22nd Century and that we have no idea what their world will look like or what they may experience during their lifetimes.
 * 2) I am an unabashed neo-relativist (Simpson, 2004) and critical constructivist. So to see the evidence of a pedagogy that stresses the importance for students to learn Science by doing and discussing is extremely heartening. This framework clearly attempts to achieve five crucial characteristics of a classroom environment that is informed by constructivism:
 * 1) The lack of prescription is to be lauded. It is very easy to write a list of what is considered the canon of all scientific knowledge. The recognition that scientific capability gained through learning about science as a human endeavour allows students to gain significant knowledge, but more importantly leads to students who are able to demonstrate understanding through application, of the skills and knowledge gained, to new situations is a much more powerful outcome than a list of ‘facts for forgetting’ (Townsend, 2004).
 * 1) I am concerned by the procedure of power at play within the social matrix which is the educational community. Michel Foucault would have nodded his head sagely. The Framing Papers have been released without great fanfare at a time of year when the people who will be charged with delivering these changes are at their most tired and blinkered. Most teachers at this time of year are swamped with assessment, examinations, reporting, reviews of the completed school year and initial planning for the new school year. They will then go on a well deserved holiday, until the end of January and beginning of February (at which time they will return refreshed, but focussed on getting to know their new students and starting up the school year). The consultative process could not have occurred at a worse time for collecting their views. Not that they are apathetic, rather that they are exhausted and have one dominant thing on their minds – a holiday!
 * 2) There is no explicit mention of others. The Western tradition of Science and Technology is only one, whilst the dominant one, and the youngest. It is also deliberately divorced from the spiritual dimensions of the society. I have found the study of other traditions of science to assist students to recognise that western science is only one explanation for the natural world. This recognition I then use to enable my students to understand the process of science as a knowledge creation system that in turn improves their engagement with learning about scientific ideas.
 * 1) Why must we view education as an industrial process? Can we take the opportunity to recognise that young people learn different things at very different rates due to a wide variety of reasons: learner ability, preferred intelligence, preferred learning style, gender, socio-cultural background, and spirituality to name a few. A discussion of stages of education is a beginning. Can we now discuss ways of holding students back until they have gained mastery of a stage? Can we discuss advancing students ahead of their chronological position because they have clearly gained mastery of a stage? Can we take up Geoff Masters (2008) challenge to assess and report on students’ progress.
 * 2) Why must schools do the work of Universities? A large number of students move from secondary school to tertiary education. At the moment the school system is charged with determining who may enter the world of academe. Why can’t they select their own students at their expense? In Victoria, we currently have a situation where the VELS influences our work P- 10 and we work on inter and intra personal skills, thinking, integrating across curricula and develop individualised programs to challenge and teach our students. Then they go to VCE and we teach them facts to forget after they have passed the exam (I acknowledge that indeed many teachers work hard to do more than just this, but in Year 12 in particular, the examination is ever present). The divide is enormous – as David Blades (1997) described a similar experience in Canada – it is a deep, black, void.
 * 3) Secondary school prepares students for much more than tertiary education and we currently have wonderful programs that seek to link students with the TAFE sector and vocational training. What if we were able to take this further and instead of teaching the disciplines at VCE we taught semesters on Nano-tech, Materials Science, Aviation, Animal Husbandry, Conservation Management, Biochemistry; that is; applied sciences. We could also develop programs that linked to industry and students did work placements as part of their studies? We have a diversity of students who deserve a diversity of pathways.