Chapter 18: Visions of Hope and Despair: Investigating the Potential of Critical Science Education

The main goal of this analysis was to juxtapose two academically similar science contexts where one teacher approached his course using lecture/text-book pedagogy driven by traditional institutional practices. This context is contrasted with a teacher who enacted pedagogy informed by a critical science framework. The main goals of the study were to investigate: the differing approaches and beliefs of these teachers within these differing science contexts, how students responded to these contrasting pedagogies, and how this difference impacted student perceptions of their role within the science classroom community as well as their lives beyond the classroom. The comparison of these contexts provides meaningful insights for how to utilize critical approaches to science teaching as well as a means to create more productive classroom environments that view classrooms as places of intellectual engagement as opposed to a battlefield mentality that often alienates both students and teachers. Implications for student reactions to critical approaches within science contexts are discussed.