Dialogic Science Education for Diversity

Abstract

This chapter argues that a dialogic understanding of the nature of science should lead to a dialogic approach to science education, which is more open to engagement with diverse voices. It combines this argument with a description of an approach to science education developed in the context a large European Commission funded international project called ‘Science Education for Diversity’. The project surveyed school students aged 10 to 14 and their teachers in Malaysia, India, Lebanon, Turkey, Netherlands and the UK and developed a framework for the design of education in the context of diversity in science education. This approach to education is called ‘dialogic’ both because it is about responding to the diverse voices of students without prejudging the nature of that diversity and because it is about teaching for dialogue, where the quality of dialogue is understood as being central to science.