Dr. David Steele and colleagues from the Ohio State University, Michigan State University, and IUPUI recently presented their research () at the 2022 National Association for Research in Science Teaching International Conference. The conference was held in Vancouver, BC from March 27th – March 31st, 2022.
In their research presentation, Dr. Steele and colleagues:
Present a theoretical paper that offers a new lens to open up locations of possibility where we can begin to shift scientific literacy to an agential literacy approach to science education. This paper is a call to radically change the way we think about our beings, existence, knowing, understanding, and more. Kayumova and colleauges (2019) argues that posthuman informed scientific literacy (such as agential literacy that we discuss here) cannot be separated from inequity. Likewise, we agree with Kayumova and colleagues that non-linear thinking in science education is intended to make a real difference in this world, particularly in addressing issues of equity and social justice. We believe the solution lies in having humans reposition ourselves and our relationship with the world, and agential literacy, as it relates to teaching the next generation of youth an ethics of mattering, can become a tool to identify, examine and address not only environmental injustice but also social justice and equity issues in this world. We contend that humans need to shift from seeing the world through a human-nature dualistic lens to one that recognizes humans as interrelated entities connected through a process of intra-action.
The entire proposal can be found here, while the NARST presentation can be found here.