Science Education: Beyond a liminal Understanding of Knowledge Production and Dissemination

Abstract

The present paper is a case study based on a first year BA Hons Education Studies module that explores a number of important questions about the relationship between technology, knowledge and society and begins to think about how our ideas about each of these contribute to an understanding of what education means.  Following a Foucauldian perspective on discourse, truth and power, we look with our students at science – and science education – to explore the production of knowledge in a context where many initiatives promote scientific literacy for children and young people as an important factor of their educational upbringing.  The paper argues that it is important to reflect with students on these forms of knowledge production and dissemination so as not to see – and teach – science from a consumerist perspective but rather to embrace the idea of science education as a discourse that shapes our understanding of the world and ourselves.