“Science capital”: A conceptual,methodological, and empirical argument for extending bourdieusian notions of capital beyond the arts

This paper sets out an argument and approach for moving beyond a primarily arts‐based conceptualization of cultural capital, as has been the tendency within Bourdieusian approaches to date. We advance the notion that, in contemporary society, scientific forms of cultural and social capital can command a high symbolic and exchange value. Our previous research [Archer et al. (2014) Journal of Research in Science Teaching 51, 1–30] proposed the concept of “science capital” (science‐related forms of cultural and social capital) as a theoretical lens for explaining differential patterns of aspiration and educational participation among young people. Here, we attempt to theoretically, methodologically, and empirically advance a discussion of how we might conceptualize science capital and how this might be translated into a survey tool for use with students. We report on findings from a survey conducted with 3658 secondary school students, aged 11–15 years, in England. Analysis found that science capital was unevenly spread across the student population, with 5% being classified as having “high” science capital and 27% “low” science capital. Analysis shows that levels of science capital (high, medium, or low) are clearly patterned by cultural capital, gender, ethnicity, and set (track) in science. Students with high, medium, or low levels of science capital also seem to have very different post‐16 plans (regarding studying or working in science) and different levels of self‐efficacy in science. They also vary dramatically in terms of whether they feel others see them as a “science person.” The paper concludes with a discussion of conceptual and methodological issues and implications for practice. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 52: 922–948, 2015.     

促进学生科学资本构建:科学教育发展的新视角

科学教育是建设创新型国家、科教强国的重要支撑,培育更多优秀青少年学生学习和从事科技领域具有重要意义。“科学资本”由布迪厄的“资本”概念发展而来,被认为是预测青少年学生STEM职业期望的有效变量。为了更好地认识科学资本这一概念的本质及其教育价值,该文在对相关文献进行梳理的基础上,对科学资本的内涵进行了解析,对科学资本的构成维度进行了总结,对科学资本促进学生发展的价值进行了讨论,对如何将科学资本融入教育实践进行了介绍。该文认为具有丰富内涵的科学资本为审视科学教育提供了一个新的视角,为推进科学教育发展提供了新的着力点,即在培养学生科学素养的同时,应重视学生科学资本的发掘和构建;建议创设“学校—家庭—社会”协同育人环境,积极促进学生科学资本构建,增强学生与科学的亲密度,激励更多更优秀的学生在未来进入科技领域。科学资本及以其为导向的科学教学法为我国科学教育和科学教师培训提供了新的启示。     

Science career aspiration and science capital in China and UK: a comparative study using PISA data

ABSTRACT

The concept of science capital has a growing influence in science education research for understanding young people’s science trajectories. Popularised in the UK, this paper aims to extend and evaluate the applicability of science capital in the context of China by drawing on PISA2015. More specifically, we make use of existing items in the PISA2015 survey as a proxy for operationalising the construct of science capital to explore the science career aspirations and attainments of 15-year-old Chinese and UK students (n?=?23,998). Our findings indicate that science capital has more explanatory power for understanding UK students’ science career aspirations than for Chinese students, where science attainment seems most important. We raise the potential challenge for Chinese students to convert their science capital into scientific self-efficacy and science career aspirations as we highlight the importance of recognising cultural and national differences in operationalising science capital.     

Bourdieu,Department Chairs and the Reform of Science Education

Using the insights of the French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, this article considers the role of the science department chair in the reform of school science education. Using Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’ of ‘field’, ‘habitus’ and ‘capital’, we case study the work of two teachers who both actively pursue the teaching and learning of science as inquiry. One teacher, Dan, has been a department chair since 2000, and has actively encouraged his department to embrace science as inquiry. The other teacher, Leslie, worked for one year in Dan’s department before being transferred to another school where science teaching continues to be more traditional. Our work suggests that there are three crucial considerations for chairs seeking to lead the reform of science teaching within their department. The first of these is the development of a reform-minded habitus, as this appears to be foundational to the capital that can be expended in the leadership of reform. The second is an understanding of how to wield power and position in the promotion of reform. The third is the capacity to operate simultaneously and strategically within, and across, two fields; the departmental field and the larger science education field. This involves downplaying administrative logics, and foregrounding more inquiry-focused logics as a vehicle to challenge traditional science-teaching dispositions—the latter being typically dominated by concerns about curriculum ‘coverage’.     

社会资本与美国科学政策的制订

本文主要探讨了以万尼瓦尔·布什为代表的美国科学家精英,在二战前和二战中创造和积累社会资本的过程,分析了社会资本对制订美国战后科学政策的影响。     

Young Children's Aspirations in Science: The unequivocal,the uncertain and the unthinkable

Students' lack of interest in studying science and in science-related careers is a concern in the UK and worldwide. Yet there is limited data, particularly longitudinal, on the sources and development of science-related aspirations. In response, the ASPIRES (Science Aspirations and Career Choice: Age 10–14) longitudinal study is investigating the development of students' educational and occupational aspirations over time. In the first phase of the project, a questionnaire exploring science-related aspirations and interests was completed by over 9,000 primary school students across England. This survey allowed us to explore possible associations between attitudes and aspirations, links which have not been investigated in previous attitudinal studies of this scope. Overall, students expressed positive attitudes to science, reported positive parental attitudes to science and held very positive images of scientists. Multilevel modelling analyses revealed that aspirations in science were most strongly related to parental attitudes to science, attitudes to school science and self-concept in science, and are also associated with students' gender, ethnicity and cultural capital. However, the images students held of scientists were not as closely related to aspirations. These factors are discussed in more detail within the paper, alongside a consideration of possible school-related effects.     

Understanding and Engagement in Places of Science Experience: Science Museums,Science Centers,Zoos, and Aquariums

Science museums, science centers, zoos, and aquariums (MCZAs) constitute major settings of science learning with unique characteristics of informal science education. Emphasis will be given to the analysis of four specific characteristics of MCZAs that seem relevant for educational research and practice, namely, conditions of mixed motives and goals, staged popular science, and impact of physical layout, as well as the role of social exchange and participation. By doing so, we focus on the consequences of these characteristics for the learning processes and outcomes of visits of MCZAs. We show that outcomes encompass not only knowledge acquisition in a narrower sense but also changes in interest and beliefs.     

略析科技与道德

当今世界是一个高科技时代 ,科学技术一方面带给人类巨大的福祉 ,另一方面又让人感到恐慌和不安。科技的发展带来了许多伦理道德新问题 ,科学与道德到底是怎样一种关系呢 ?本文试从科学对道德的促进作用 ,科学所表现出的伦理二重性以及道德对科学的制约作用等几方面进行探讨分析。     

Laptop Use,Interactive Science Software,and Science Learning Among At-Risk Students

This year-long, quasi-experimental study investigated the impact of the use of netbook computers and interactive science software on fifth-grade students’ science learning processes, academic achievement, and interest in further science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) study within a linguistically diverse school district in California. Analysis of students’ state standardized science test scores indicated that the program helped close gaps in scientific achievement between at-risk learners (i.e., English learners, Hispanics, and free/reduced-lunch recipients) and their counterparts. Teacher and student interviews and classroom observations suggested that computer-supported visual representations and interactions supported diverse learners’ scientific understanding and inquiry and enabled more individualized and differentiated instruction. Finally, interviews revealed that the program had a positive impact on students’ motivation in science and on their interest in pursuing science-related careers. This study suggests that technology-facilitated science instruction is beneficial for improving at-risk students’ science achievement, scaffolding students’ scientific understanding, and strengthening students’ motivation to pursue STEM-related careers.     

社会网络理论下的中小学海洋科普共同体研究

从社会网络理论的网络结构和社会资本视角出发,提出构建中小学海洋科普共同体,由具有海洋科普共同愿景的海洋科研人员、涉海专业教师、海洋科普志愿者、中小学教师及政府机构人员等群体构成,通过开设海洋课程、海洋展览、海洋研学等交流形式,有计划、有步骤地为中小学生传播海洋知识,既缓解了海洋科普教师短缺的问题,又实现了提高青少年海洋素养的目的。最后,通过问卷调查与访谈等方法验证了中小学海洋科普共同体模型的科学性与可行性,中小学海洋科普成员中原有强联结的网络关系可以因结构洞的存在而重新建立新的共同体,网络成员社会资本的转换也因为中心节点而更加顺畅。     

论农业科技资源的特性与农业科技组织形式的选择

农业科技资源除了具有一般公共资源所具备的共性如外部性、风险性等之外，还具有自身的由农业性质和科技特性所共同决定的一些特殊属性：应用场所开放容易被模仿；应用主体比较收益低；应用的对象——农业生产复杂多样且过程连续，从而使得农业科技创新呈现出风险性等特征。由此，农业科技组织必须形式多样，经营灵活，占有较多的专用性资产，具有良好的抗风险能力和激励约束机制。     

Philosophy of Science,Critical Thinking and Science Education

In this article I explore a case for the inclusion of some aspects of critical thinking and of philosophy of science within science education that appeals to two commonly accepted aims of science education. Although motivated by reading Harvey Siegel's Educating Reason (1988), and emerging from his discussion there, the aspects I explore go beyond that discussion.     

Teaching With and About Nature of Science, and Science Teacher Knowledge Domains

The ubiquitous goals of helping precollege students develop informed conceptions of nature of science (NOS) and experience inquiry learning environments that progressively approximate authentic scientific practice have been long-standing and central aims of science education reforms around the globe. However, the realization of these goals continues to elude the science education community partly because of a persistent, albeit not empirically supported, coupling of the two goals in the form of ‘teaching about NOS with inquiry’. In this context, the present paper aims, first, to introduce the notions of, and articulate the distinction between, teaching with and about NOS, which will allow for the meaningful coupling of the two desired goals. Second, the paper aims to explicate science teachers’ knowledge domains requisite for effective teaching with and about NOS. The paper argues that research and development efforts dedicated to helping science teachers develop deep, robust, and integrated NOS understandings would have the dual benefits of not only enabling teachers to convey to students images of science and scientific practice that are commensurate with historical, philosophical, sociological, and psychological scholarship (teaching about NOS), but also to structure robust inquiry learning environments that approximate authentic scientific practice, and implement effective pedagogical approaches that share a lot of the characteristics of best science teaching practices (teaching with NOS).     

Analysis of the trajectories of Science graduates: applying Bourdieu and Sen

Abstract

We bring together the theories of Bourdieu and Sen in order to understand the processes that influence the study paths chosen by young people with a general degree from a science university in France. The weighting of economic and cultural capital within study options taken in secondary education and during the premier cycle (the first three years of tertiary education) helps characterise elements of students’ trajectories which either stymie or reinforce a nonetheless dominant reproduction.     

Linking Science Education to the Workplace

This article examines the issue of linking education in the sciences with the world of work for all students. Traditionally, science teaching has been limited to preparing student for research career in science at the university level. The reform movement in science education is focused on intellectual skills that serve to fortify the human capital of all students and the economic productivity of the nation. The educational issue arises from evolutionary changes that are taking place in the practice of science, the development of a global economy, the nation's entrance into an Information Age, and the changing nature of the workplace. To identify and integrate these factors in the practice of science teaching is the goal of this article.     

Science, Worldviews, and Education

Whether science can reach conclusions with substantial worldview import, such as whether supernatural beings exist or the universe is purposeful, is a significant but unsettled aspect of science. For instance, various scientists, philosophers, and educators have explored the implications of science for a theistic worldview, with opinions spanning the spectrum from positive to neutral to negative. To delineate a mainstream perspective on science, seven key characterizations or “pillars” of science are adopted from position papers from the world’s largest scientific organization, the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Based on those pillars and an examination of scientific method, I argue that the presuppositions and reasoning of science can and should be worldview independent, but empirical and public evidence from the sciences and humanities can support conclusions that are worldview distinctive. I also critique several problematic perspectives: asserting that science can say nothing about worldviews and the opposite extreme of insisting that science decisively supports one particular worldview; weakening science so severely that it lacks truth claims; and burdening science with unnecessary presuppositions. Worldview-distinctive conclusions based on empirical evidence are suitable for individual convictions and public discussions, but not for institutional endorsements and scientific literacy requirements.     

构建安徽东向发展农业科技创新平台的路线图

安徽东向发展的农业科技创新平台包括培育平台、资本平台、推广平台和管理平台,为了构建这些农业科技创新平台,我们需要不断完善运行路径、找准切入点、制定合理的实施策略。其中,运行路径主要有资金东引、产业东承、产品东送和劳务东输,切入点主要有区域上的切入点、内容上的切入点和方式上的切入点,实施策略主要有跟跑策略、挑战策略、利基策略和互补策略。     

Interactions of Economics of Science and Science Education: Investigating the Implications for Science Teaching and Learning

In recent years, there has been upsurge of interest in the applications of interdisciplinary perspectives on science in science education. Within this framework, the implications of the so-called “economics of science” is virtually an uncharted territory. In this paper, we trace a set of arguments that provide a dialectic engagement with two conflicting agendas: (a) the broadening of science education to include the contextual positioning of science including economical dimensions of science, and (b) the guarding of the proliferation and reinforcement of those aspects of economics of science such as commodification of scientific knowledge that embraces inequity and restricted access to the products of the scientific enterprise. Our aim is broadly to engage, as science education researchers, in the debates in economics of science so as to investigate the reciprocal interactions that might exist with science education. In so doing, we draw out some recommendations whereby the goals of science education might provide as much input into the intellectual debates within philosophy of science on issues related to the commercialisation and commodification of scientific knowledge. We explore some implications of commodification of science in the context of modelling and argumentation in science education.     

Science Anxiety, Science Attitudes, and Gender: Interviews from a Binational Study

We conducted interviews with eleven groups of Danish and American students. The interview topics included gender and national components of science education, science anxiety, and attitudes toward science. The groups were science and nonscience students at the upper secondary and university levels, and one group of American science teachers who were students in a science enrichment program. The interviews revealed a variety of relationships between and among science attitudes, science anxiety, nationality, gender, and course of study. We also probed student attitudes toward constructivist versus traditional views of science.     

我国高校科技产业发展历程研究

我国高校科技产业是具有中国特色的事物.高校科技产业在培养高等人才、科技成果产业化等方面做作出了贡献.但也面临着资金短缺、体制不畅通等问题.这些制约了高校科技产业的发展.本文论述了我国高校科技企业的发展过程及在国民经济中的地位和作用,及面临的困难,我们应重视并尽力解决.