Responding to a relevance imperative in school science and mathematics : humanising the curriculum through story

Responding to a relevance imperative in school science and mathematics : humanising the curriculum through story

Darby-Hobbs, Linda 2011, Responding to a relevance imperative in school science and mathematics : humanising the curriculum through story, Research in science education, Online First, pp. 1-21.

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Title	Responding to a relevance imperative in school science and mathematics : humanising the curriculum through story
Author(s)	Darby-Hobbs, Linda
Journal name	Research in science education
Season	Online First
Start page	1
End page	21
Total pages	21
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Place of publication	Dordrecht, Netherlands
Publication date	2011
ISSN	0157-244X 1573-1898
Keyword(s)	Science teaching Mathematics teaching Relevance Humanistic education Meaning making Stories Narrative Video stimulated recall Teacher identity Teacher passion
Summary	There has been a recent push to reframe curriculum and pedagogy in ways that make school more meaningful and relevant to students’ lives and perceived needs. This ‘relevance imperative’ is evident in contemporary rhetoric surrounding quality education, and particularly in relation to the junior secondary years where student disengagement with schooling continues to abate. This paper explores how teachers translate this imperative into their mathematics and science teaching. Interview data and critical incidents from classroom practice are used to explore how six teachers attempted to make the subject matter meaningful for their students. Four ‘Categories of Meaning Making’ emerged, highlighting key differences in how the nature of science and mathematics content constrained or enabled linkages between content and students’ lifeworlds. While the teachers demonstrated a commitment to humanising the subject at some level, this analysis has shown that expecting teachers to make the curriculum relevant is not unproblematic because the meaning of relevance as a construct is complex, subject-specific, and embedded in understanding the human dimensions of learning, using, and identifying with, content. Through an examination of the construct of relevance and a humanistic turn in mathematics and science literature I argue for an expanded notion of relevance.
Language	eng
Field of Research	130212 Science, Technology and Engineering Curriculum and Pedagogy 130202 Curriculum and Pedagogy Theory and Development 130106 Secondary Education
Socio Economic Objective	930201 Pedagogy
HERDC Research category	C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal
HERDC collection year	2011
Copyright notice	©2011, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Persistent URL	http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30045278

Document type:	Journal Article
Collection:	School of Education

Citation counts:	Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science
Access Statistics:	32 Abstract Views, 0 File Downloads - Detailed Statistics
Created:	Mon, 14 May 2012, 14:54:29 EST by Kylie Koulkoudinas

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