Title/theme of conference: Fostering scientific citizenship in an uncertain world
- ESERA2021 web site
- ESERA2021 e-Proceedings
- ESERA2021 Book of selected papers (to be published by Springer)
Short description:
The ESERA 2021 on-line Conference was organised by the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal and took place from August 30th to September 3rd, 2021. This 14th Conference of the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA 2021) was held as an exclusively virtual conference due to the current Coronavirus situation and travel restrictions. The conference brought together the international science education research community sharing research and engaing in discussion about the pressing issues in science education. “Fostering scientific citizenship in an uncertain world” was the theme of this 14th edition, selected having in mind the severe social and educational changes resulting from this recent public health problem.
The organisation of the conference was led by Graça Carvalho (Conference President), Zélia Anastácio (Conference Manager), Ana Sofia Afonso, Beatriz Pereira, Cristina Sylla, Fernando Guimarães, Isabel Sousa, José Precioso, Paulo Varela and Teresa Vilaça, from the research centre CIEC at the University of Minho, Portugal with the help of the Steering Committee, the Local Organising Committee, the Scientific Committee and the ESERA Executive Board.
The plenary speakers of the conference were the following:
Plenary Session 1: Unpredictability and uncertainty… how can science education inspire young people to act for citizenship?
Cecília Galvão is a full Professor in the Institute of Education, University of Lisbon. She has a background in Biology and a PhD in Education. She coordinates the PhD Programme in Sustainability Science of the University of Lisbon, the PhD in Education, the Joint Master Degree in Scientific Culture and Outreach of Sciences and the master programme on Biology and Geology teaching. She coordinates the Science Education Research Group and develops research in science education and teachers’ professional development. She has been the Portuguese coordinator of several EU Projects such as FP6 PARSEL, FP7 SAILS, and Erasmus + High Fliers-Highly Interactive Guidance Helpful For Leadership In Educationally Relevant Skills.
Plenary session 2: Intercultural science education as dialogue between knowledge systems: learning from overlaps and differences
Charbel N. El-Hani is Full Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology at Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Brazil. He coordinates the National Institute of Science and Technology in Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies in Ecology (INCT IN-TREE). He is co-chair of the Education Committee of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB). He has been a visiting researcher at the Centre of Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal, from January 2020 to February 2021. His research interests are in science education research, intercultural education, philosophy of biology, ecology, conservation, and ethnobiology.
Plenary session 3: Looking towards the future: What we can and should learn from newly hired teachers of science
Julie A. Luft is a University of Georgia Distinguished Research Professor and the Athletic Association Professor of Mathematics and Science Education in the Mary Francis Early College of Education in the USA. She is also a Fellow of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), American Association for the Advancement of Science and Owens Institute of Behavioral Research, as well as a former Fulbright scholar. She has been the Associate Editor of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, president of the Association of Science Teacher Education, and board member of NARST and NSTA.
Plenary session 4: Coming Together Across Differences: The Uniting Role of Social Justice in Science Education
Christina Siry is professor of learning and instruction at the University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Her research examines how young children develop and transform their science understandings through multilingual, multimodal interactions in schools. She is co-editor of the journal Cultural Studies of Science Education, and her work has been published in numerous international journals, including the International Journal of Science Education, Research in Science Education, Science Education, and Teaching and Teacher Education, among others.
Hagop A. Yacoubian is an Associate Professor of Education at the Lebanese American University. He obtained his PhD in Secondary Education from the University of Alberta, Canada. His research focuses on the preparation of scientifically literate future citizens. He has co-edited (with J. Bazzul) a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education on Rethinking Education for Citizenship (Routledge, 2015). He is the author of the book Critical Thinking at the Armenian Schools in Lebanon (Haigazian University Press, 2016) and the co-editor (with L. Hansson) of the volume Nature of Science for Social Justice published under the series Science: Philosophy, History and Education (Springer, 2020).
Plenary session 5: A Mobility Lens to the Study of Learning and Identity Pathways in STEM of Youth, Teachers, and Community Partners: Tools for the Joint-Design of Equity Driven Innovative Science Learning and Teacher Education
Jrène Rahm is an Educational Psychologist and Full Professor at the Université de Montréal, Canada. She brings a cultural perspective to children and youths’ learning and identity development in science, at the intersection of formal and informal education. Through multisited and longitudinal studies and a space-time lens, she explores minoritized immigrant youths’ complex navigations of community organizations, gardens, and other educational venues. She has published widely, serves on the editorial board of Cultural Studies of Science Education and Mind, Culture and Activity.
Plenary Panel: Truth, Post-Truth and Trust
Richard Duschl is currently Executive Director, Caruth Institute for Engineering Education and Texas Instruments Distinguished Professor in the Lyle School of Engineering, Southern Methodist University. He has Professor Emeritus status at Penn State University where he was the Waterbury Chair Professor of Secondary Education in the College of Education. Twice he has received the ‘JRST Award’ for the outstanding research article published in the J. of Research in Science Teaching. He served for more than a decade as editor of Science Education and as editor for TC Press “Ways of Knowing in Science and Math” book series. He was President of NARST (2008-11). He was honoured by NARST 2015 with the Distinguished Career in Research Award in SE.
Hanne Andersen is professor of philosophy of science at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Her primary research focus is on the structure and development of 20th and 21st century science. She integrates historical and contemporary case studies with analytical tools drawn from general philosophy of science, social epistemology, and research ethics. Her current work focuses on interdisciplinarity, collaboration and trust, on research integrity, and on academic institutions and scholarly careers. She serves at the Danish Committee for Scientific Misconduct, and she is a member of the European Academy of Sciences. She has previously served as EiC of the journal Centaurus – the official journal of the European History of Science Society.
Stein Dankert Kolstø is a professor of science education and a teacher educator at the University of Bergen, Norway. He was a teacher of science and mathematics in secondary schools before doing his Ph.D. on scientific literacy. He is the principal investigator of Project Argument involving local science teachers and school authorities. He is the author of several papers on argumentation, critical thinking, and scientific inquiry in science education and co-author of several books on these topics for science teachers. He has taken a special interest in science teaching using dialogue activities to develop students’ ability to construct and critically evaluate science-based arguments in socioscientific issues.
Sarit Barzilai is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Learning, Instruction, and Teacher Education in the Faculty of Education of the University of Haifa, Israel. Her main research interests are epistemic thinking, metacognition, digital literacy, and inquiry learning. She has extensively studied how learners make sense of scientific information sources and engages in designing and investigating learning environments that support reasoning with and about diverse information sources. Her recent research focuses on developing an account of epistemic growth that can inform educational efforts to promote learners’ ways of knowing and on developing ways to educationally address the current “post-truth” climate.
Maurício Pietrocola is a science educator and professor at The University of São Paulo in Brazil. He received his doctoral degree from The University of Paris 7 (Denis Diderot) in 1992 and has since been the author of numerous publications. His areas of work include curriculum development, pedagogical knowledge and innovative strategies of teaching and learning. His current focus is on connections between innovative education and risk taking, which contributes to an understanding of the failure of new educational innovations. In 2013–2014, Mauricio was a Fellow at the Advanced Research Collaborative at the Graduate Center of CUNY. He is now Associate Editor of Science & Education.
Photo of Local Organizing Committee