Page 142 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

8 Moral–Ethical Character and Science Education 119

humans and all other living and nonliving entities connected to the environment.
Under this philosophy, SSI serves as a vehicle for reasoning about scientific issues
where ethics plays a major role in considering choices for action (Mueller 2009).
Ethical decisions become significant for participating more fully in actions that
affect our communities and our larger ecological habitat.
Ecojustice scholars (e.g., Bowers 2006) pay particular attention to the ways in
which vernacular language has inadvertently perpetuated root metaphors such as con-
sumerism, constructivism, evolution, individualism, mechanism, patriarchy, and scientism
in western, and now, eastern societies. The idea is that metaphors (or cultural assump-
tions) are inculcated in language during particular time periods, and are evaluated and
possibly endorsed by future generations. For example, there is an unerring faith in
rushing out to obtain the latest technological “advances” which de-emphasizes or
ignores potentially adverse impacts on the environments. People throw away cell
phones, appliances, computers, and other e-waste without considering whether these
things will be recycled or end up in oceans and streams. This behavior is influenced
by what counts as generally accepted cultural assumptions toward basic needs and
wants. These influences have been perpetuated since the Industrial Revolution and are
inadvertently propagated by what is privileged in advertising, media, and schools
(Martusewicz 2005). The point of SSI and functional scientific literacy is to help stu-
dents evaluate these choices and make the best decisions for action by providing them
with a method to approach any problem despite their different geographies.
According to Dewey (1935), complacency is cowardly. We agree. Unless students
are taught to engage in their world, they will not know when or how they should
act. People do not spontaneously take actions to resolve degraded conditions for
communities or the environment without some knowledge or baseline of what is
important, or what is healthy in our bodies, communities, and ecosystems. This is
where teachers become cultural mediators; they have experiences within particular
geographies where they learn to become more attentive and learn to address deeply
embedded assumptions about that environment. Students play a large role in
addressing these cultural metaphors, because their experiences are at the center of
what makes ecojustice authentic and meaningful. A goal of ecojustice-oriented
teaching is to address particular underlying cultural assumptions and actions that
frame the world, but not to necessarily address these things in the same manner
everywhere. This is where ecojustice philosophy challenges the supposition that
schooling should be the same everywhere or that there is one right way to learn
science (Mueller and Bentley 2009).
Now let us consider the SSI GloFish where interesting ethical questions begin to
emerge. Should the FDA’s analysis take into account the potential implications for
other nations? Should it matter if zebrafish can be imported to places where they
could interrupt native populations and destroy habitats if there is no perceived harm
in selling them in other markets where they may not likely survive? Should GloFish
and other genetically engineered pets (GEPs) be labeled in a way that provides
consumers with appropriate information for making decisions about whether to buy
GEPs or not? Is it good, just, or right to patent intellectual property such as living
GMOs? These questions are considered in the next segment of this chapter.