Page 168 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

10 Action-Based Science Instruction 145

2. After participating in a cleanup event at a local park, sixth grade students observe
several cigarette butts around the pond. After conducting research about the
harmful effects cigarette butts can have on the animals, they propose a bill to ban
smoking in public parks in their city.
3. Seventh grade students investigate the effects of car idling on the environment.
They investigate the chemical pollution produced, idling time, and number of
gallons of gas burned while cars idle in car pool lines. They work with the School
Board in their district to abolish idling while cars are waiting for students in
school parking lots and other parts of the school property.

Categories of Citizenship

Civic participation can also be examined through different categories of involvement.
Westheimer and Kahne (2002) provide a framework that distinguishes between
three different types of participatory citizenship projects. Their ideas are listed in
Table 1. Notice that service-learning and stewardship are participatory whereas
civic involvement involves justice-oriented activities. For the most part, traditional
science curricula and lesson plans target the personally responsible citizen, rather
than a participatory or justice-oriented citizen.

Table 1 Types of citizenship participation (Adapted from Westheimer and Kahne 2002, and
Cox-Petersen 2010)
Personally responsible Participatory Justice oriented
• Acts responsibly in • Active member • Critically assesses social,
community of community political, and economic
• Works and pays taxes organizations structures to see beyond
• Obeys laws • Organizes community surface causes
• Recycles efforts to care for those • Seeks out and addresses
• Volunteers in need areas of injustice
• Knows how • Knows about democratic
government agencies social movements and
work how to effect systemic
• Knows strategies change
for accomplishing
collective tasks
Contribute to a recycling Work with the community Gather info about why people
bin at home, work, to create and organize do not recycle, create a plan
school recycling bins at home, to encourage recycling,
work, and school; monitor make public announcement
the progress of the project about recycling, and report
on the progress of the
project
Traditional classroom Service-learning and Civic involvement projects
projects stewardship projects