Submitted Abstract
The cultural studies of science education (CSSE) is an emerging research field internationally, one which has a recently established (2005) journal, Cultural Studies of Science Education (published by Springer-Verlag). This emergent area of research focuses on diverse studies in learning and teaching science through socioculturally grounded perspectives. To learn science and to become scientifically literate means to become enculturated in its modes of doing, perceiving, thinking, researching, and theorizing. Yet the predominant modes of research on science education do not always emphasize cultural theories about teaching and learning. As an emerging field, we are concerned with working towards new developments that can support investigations through innovative approaches specifically grounded in a diversity of sociocultural perspectives. To that end, this exploratory workshop seeks to create an internationally grounded basis for research agendas that highlight the need for developing and understanding science education as a cultural, social, cross-disciplinary enterprise embedded in particular contexts and histories. Through the focus on the cultural studies of science education, we aim to bring together key established researchers as well as early career scholars in the field, to engage in an output-oriented three-day workshop leading towards developing new direction for current and future cutting-edge research and collaborations. For the past several years, there has been a Forum on Cultural Studies of Science Education meeting, which has brought together up to 40 international senior, midlevel, and early career scholars to engage in one day of discussion around a salient issue in the field. These discussions have provided the initial opportunity to begin to examine topics of relevance in the field. Over the past two annual meetings, it has become clear that while one day of a meeting provides an impetus for examining current trends, it does not allow enough possibility for deeper engagement into key issues in our field, and for establishing viable, sustainable, collaborations and innovations. Thus, this exploratory workshop has been conceived in order to intensively examine the role of cultural studies of science education as an internationally evolving research field, and to build new capacities and collaborations in this emergent research area.