Covid-19 as an opportunity to teach epistemic insight: findings from exploratory workshops on Covid-19 and science with students aged 15-17 in England

Journal article


Billingsley, B., Heyes, J. and Nassaji, M. 2021. Covid-19 as an opportunity to teach epistemic insight: findings from exploratory workshops on Covid-19 and science with students aged 15-17 in England. SN Social Sciences. 1 (11), p. 260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00243-1
AuthorsBillingsley, B., Heyes, J. and Nassaji, M.
AbstractThe contributions of science and scientists to combatting Covid-19 have been at the forefront of media attention throughout 2020 and early 2021, exposing the public to the processes of science in an unprecedented manner. The pandemic has highlighted the necessity of scientists working collaboratively with other disciplines in informing thinking about a complex, evolving real-world problem. This draws attention to recent efforts, both in the UK and internationally, towards curriculum reform integrating epistemic insight (knowledge about knowledge, including about what disciplines are and how they interact), with significant implications for the teaching of science in schools. We present findings from two exploratory workshops with 15-17-year-old students in England on the role of science during the pandemic. We found that the workshops provided space for students to begin to develop epistemic insight regarding how science informs decision-making in dialogue with other disciplines. We make recommendations proposing pedagogical approaches using live, complex, real-world problems to address issues around understandings of the nature of science, misinformation, trust and participation in science.
KeywordsMisinformation; Science education; Multi-disciplinarity; Covid-19; Epistemic insight
Year2021
JournalSN Social Sciences
Journal citation1 (11), p. 260
PublisherSpringer
ISSN2662-9283
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00243-1
Official URLhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43545-021-00243-1
FunderTempleton World Charity Foundation
Publication dates
Online22 Sep 2021
Print01 Jan 2021
Publication process dates
Accepted19 Aug 2021
Deposited18 Feb 2022
Accepted author manuscript
File Access Level
Open
Publisher's version
License
Output statusPublished
LicenseCC BY 4.0
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