Amy Seakins

“I’m Being a Man Here”: Urban Boys’ Performances of Masculinity and Engagement With Science During a Science Museum Visit

The importance of increasing and widening participation in post-compulsory science and informal science learning (ISL) spaces is widely recognized—particularly for working-class and minority ethnic communities. While there is a growing understanding of the intersection of femininity with class, ethnicity, and science learning across formal and informal settings, there has been little work on how masculinity may shape urban boys’ science (non)participation and (dis)engagement. This article analyzes performances of masculinity enacted by 36 urban, working-class boys (from diverse ethnic backgrounds) during school science museum visits, exploring how these performances relate to science identity and engagement. We identify three main performances of masculinity enacted during the visits (“laddishness,” “muscular intellect,” and “translocational masculinity”), and trace the implications of each for boys’ science engagement. We consider the power implications of these performances, notably the extent to which hegemonic masculinity is normalized within the science museum space, the ways in which this normalization is co-constitutive of the boys’ performances of masculinity, and the implications of the boys’ performances of masculinity for other students (notably girls and less dominant boys). The article concludes with implications for research, policy, and practice regarding how to promote equitable participation and science learning within ISL.

Using Bourdieu in practice? Urban secondary teachers’ and students’ experiences of a Bourdieusian-inspired pedagogical approach

Abstract This article discusses an attempt at a Bourdieusian-inspired form of praxis, developed and implemented in collaboration with nine London teachers, aimed at developing a socially just approach to engaging students with science. Data are discussed from nine months of classroom observations of nine secondary science classes from six inner London schools (approximately 200 students, aged 11–15), interviews and workshop data from the nine teachers and 13 discussion groups conducted with 59 students. The approach resulted in noticeable changes in practice, which were perceived by teachers and students to improve student engagement, cultivate a range of science-related dispositions and promote wider student participation and ‘voice’ in classes. Issues, limitations and possibilities for sociology of education are discussed.

Revealing Questions: What Are Learners Asking About?

In both formal and informal science education contexts listening to the questions from visitors, students and other individuals is becoming increasingly important as learners become more involved in their own education experiences, through researching topics and generating information online. Such approaches are even contributing to curriculum development in formal learning contexts and co-curation of exhibits in the informal. This chapter addresses the topic of learner-generated questions using questions as indicators of areas of interest and of learner motivation to find out more. The chapter discusses how questions might be used to study learning as it takes place, for example, looking at the questions asked by family members of one another during museum visits, as indicators of meaning-making and inquiry. Following a short review of the literature on learner-generated questions from a variety of environments including school, websites and museums, data from research into the questions asked by museum visitors to scientists are presented. In examining the trends in the topics that visitors would like to ask scientists, patterns of interest can be monitored, the impacts of meeting scientists on visitor interests can be documented, and programmes can be targeted to visitors’ areas of interest and curiosity. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of using learners’ questions in a variety of learning contexts, considering what the future in learning science might look like as driven by learner questions.