Finding Science in the School Body: Reflections on Transgressing the Boundaries of Science Education and the Social Studies of Science

Overview & Synopsis

This paper examines the framings that the fields of the social studies of science and science education use for each other. It is shown that the social studies of science frames science education as passive and timeless. Science education frames science studies as a set of representations to better capture how science works. The paper then proceeds to sketch an alternative in which schools are understood, drawing on actor-network theory and cultural studies of science, as constituted through contesting scientific practices and discourses and, therefore, are proper objects of study within science studies frameworks. The curricular implications are briefly developed, emphasizing the need for much more reflection upon and activism within science education regarding the technoscientific constitution of students and schools. (Contains 1 table.)