Symposium
A system-wide approach to science
education
Professor Jonathan Osborne is a visiting Professor to the University of Waikato. He
holds the Kamalachari Chair in Science Education at the Graduate School of Education,
Stanford University and previously held the Chair in Science Education at King’s College
London. He was a co-author of the report Beyond 2000: Science Education for the Future
and was a member of the US National Academies Panel that produced the Framework
for K-12 Science Education that is the basis for the new Next Generation Science
Standards. Currently he is chair of the expert group that produced the framework for
the science assessments conducted by the OECD Program for International Student
Assessment (PISA) in 2015 and 2018. His research interests are particularly in the role
of argumentation in science, improving the teaching of literacy in science, and science
education as a system.
This mini-symposium is intended to inspire discussion about science education and communication as a system in
the New Zealand landscape, and what the implications of such an approach might be. To initiate discussion, Professor
Osborne will draw on recent research conducted to explore the nature of the systems that support both formal and
informal science education in the UK, arguing that many of the initiatives lack a common vision of the cultural
contribution and achievement of science beyond its technological contribution. The outcome is a fragmented
system that has no common goals which it can collaboratively address and a failure to work synergistically. Instead,
individual goals can often exist in tension, such as the focus on preparing the next generation of science students in
the formal sector versus engaging young people with science in the informal sector. Another major consequence is a
failure to engage with the large adult audience and their diverse interests and needs. How these might be addressed
will be explored and discussed. Next, three NZ-based research and evaluation projects will be briefly considered: The
Science Learning Hub as a vehicle to reach beyond the classroom; Kids Greening Taupō, an integrated environmental
education initiative; and Grass-roots citizen science, an investigation into community groups’ monitoring of
environmental change within their restoration projects and how this data may be used beyond the scope of the
groups’ own projects.
Participants are also invited to stay for lunch and ongoing discussion about the implications of thinking of science
education (and science communication) as a system.
DATE/TIME: Tuesday 15 December, 2015: 9.30-3.00pm
VENUE: Rydges Hotel, 75 Featherston Street, Wellington
RSVP:
To [email protected]