Seyoung Hwang

Narrative Inquiry for Science Education: Teachers’ repertoire‐making in the case of environmental curriculum

This paper considers how the school science curriculum can be conceptualised in order to address the contingent and complex nature of environmental and sustainability‐related knowledge and understanding. A special concern lies in the development of research perspectives and tools for investigating ways, in which teachers are faced with complex and various situations in the sense‐making of science‐related issues, and subsequent pedagogic issues. Based on an empirical examination of Korean teachers’ sense‐making of their curricular practice, the paper develops a narrative approach to teachers’ perspectives and knowledge by considering the value of stories as sense‐making tools for reflective questioning of what is worth teaching, how and why. By employing the idea of ‘repertoire’, the study regards teachers’ stories about their environment‐related personal and teaching experiences as offering angles with which to understand teachers’ motivation and reflection in curricular development and implementation. Furthermore, three empirical cases present ways in which the nature of knowledge and understanding is recognised and potentially integrated into pedagogies through teachers’ narratives. Finally, the paper argues for the need to reconsider the role of the science teacher in addressing environmental and sustainability‐related issues, in ways that facilitate teachers’ reflexive interpretation of meanings in cultural texts and the construction of pedagogic text.

Bioethical Governance in South Korea: Tensions between Bottom-Up Movement and Professionalization and Scientific Citizenship

In South Korea, bottom-up campaigns played a significant role in legislating the Bioethics and Biosafety Act. Formed of alliances between civic activists, NGOs, religious groups, and some individual experts, they shared the goal of bioethical legislation and also demanded the democratic control of new biotechnologies. However, the Hwang Woo-suk scandal and the increased bureaucratic control of research that followed have challenged the development of a more democratic mode of governance. Through ethnographic methods, this article seeks to understand how three groups—activists, bioethics experts, and scientists—viewed their roles in formulating bioethical governance. It does so by observing the manner in which public representation was framed and reframed by the state and different social actors. We aim to contribute to ideas of scientific citizenship by outlining the complex and contradictory relationship between democracy and the logic of bioethical regulation, and between the roles and identities of campaigners and expert groups and the larger public needs. We argue that the professionalization of bioethics in South Korea has missed opportunities regarding the inclusion of the public in debate, and it has preempted the formation of new alliances and negotiation between scientists, other expert groups, and civic groups.

Correction to: “Narrative Inquiry for Science Education: Teachers’ repertoire-making in the case of environmental curriculum”

This corrigendum relates to the article published in International Journal of Science Education, 33(6), 797–816. The author’s affiliation and contact details in this article were incorrect and should have read: Science Education for the Next Society (SENS), Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea *BK21 Science Education for the Next Society (SENS), Seoul National University, #608 Education Information Hall(Building 10-1), 599, Gwanak-ro Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-748, Korea. Email: ecophil@snu.ac.kr