Page 148 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

8 Moral–Ethical Character and Science Education 125

necessitates the exploration of ethics, personal beliefs, and values. It is not merely
desirable, but necessary that students can become more fully informed to partici-
pate in everyday life choices and become “activists” in their own learning. In short,
there are three major implications for combining SSI with the learning of
ecojustice.
First, context is the most important aspect of learning about SSI, developing
functional scientific literacy and for incorporating ecojustice in everything we do
as teachers. An important challenge for standards-based schooling is to diversify
science education and focus on the places where children live, play, and work. Its
success will depend upon teachers who have the inclination to learn about students’
knowledge, interests, and experiences, and the ways in which they may apply that
knowledge to the community. Although teachers are not often held accountable for
the ways in which youth interact with the community and what they do to make it
better, teachers can be responsible for the degree to which a society values such
ecological engagement. Teachers need to be afforded higher degrees of freedom to
share responsibility for addressing issues in society and working with youth to have
a voice in their physical environment.
Second, functional scientific literacy, as described by us, is different from what
is occurring in school today, with some noted exceptions throughout this chapter.
Building on these cases will fuel an SSI movement toward reaching fruition, where
science education becomes better aligned with the professional sector. Standardizing
schools is not the answer and it will not produce the higher-quality data that are
now needed to understand how regional climate changes will effect regional species
distributions, and when students and their teachers begin engaging contextual-sensitive
issues in collaboration with scientists and other community professionals (Sadler
2009). Participatory action research is a way to shift SSI, functional scientific
literacy, and ecojustice, toward social movements that extend beyond the classroom
(Mueller and Tippins 2010). Objections that SSI is somehow separate from the
community are no longer defensible in light of the ways that it has and will continue
to influence ecojustice, environmentalism, and sustainability. “Paying it forward”
in science education means community engagement and youth activism in environ-
mentalism in a manner that explores implications and options for policy. These
forms of schooling go beyond teaching to the test. It may be, at first, more difficult
to teach this way, but worth it because it consistent with what responsible scientists
do, is more motivational, and may lead students down the path to science careers.
In a larger sense, SSI is needed to further democratize science, policymaking, and
the ways in which people advocate for those who do not have a voice otherwise.
And third, functional scientific literacy is a better way of describing the kinds of
science education advocated for by the National Science Education Standards
(National Research Council [NRC] 1996), the Benchmarks (American Association
for the Advancement of Science [AAAS] 1993), as well as many other international
progressive missions of science education (Zeidler and Keefer 2003). Functional
scientific literacy encompasses argumentation and reasoning inculcated as ethical,
political, and social judgments where students’ lived curriculum is reflected
through a deep analysis of problems. Scientists analyze and evaluate issues in depth