It is important for students to learn that scientific/technological activity is influenced by a complex of social, political, and economic forces, and it is important for them to formulate their own views on a range of contemporary issues and problems and to care passionately about them. But the curriculum needs to take them further. Students need to learn how to participate in sociopolitical action, and they need to experience participation. Moreover, they need to encourage others to participate, too: parents, grandparents, friends, relatives, neighbors, local businesses, etc. It is not enough for students to be armchair critics. As Kyle (1996) put it: “Education must be transformed from the passive, technical, and apolitical orientation that is reflective of most students’ school-based experiences to an active, critical, and politicized life-long endeavor that transcends the boundaries of classrooms and schools” (p. 1).
In advocating this four-level curriculum model (which Levinson [2010] might characterize as a combination of the “conflict and dissent” mode of citizenship education and “science education through praxis”), my intention is not to suggest that all action and preparation for action is delayed until the final years of schooling. Rather, students should proceed to whatever level is appropriate to the topic in hand, the learning opportunities it presents, and the stage of intellectual and emotional development of the students. In some areas of concern it is relatively easy for students to be organized or to organize themselves for action; in other areas it is more difficult. It is also the case that, for some topics, level 3 is more demanding than level 4. For example, it is easier to take action on recycling than to reach a considered and critical judgement of recycling versus reduced consumption versus use of alternative materials. It is highly unlikely that all students will be motivated by the same issues, problems, experiences, or situations. Nor will all students be in a position to make substantial changes to their daily behaviors and routines and, more particularly in the context of education at the school level, effect changes in their families behaviors and routines. Further, individuals can vary quite substantially in their disposition to act (that is, in terms of differences in knowledge, self-esteem, values, commitment, emotional involvement, and so on). Clearly, these variations make it difficult to plan an action-oriented curriculum for all. But there is no reason why we should expect different students and groups of students to participate in the same project. Different views and different priorities could (or should) lead to involvement in different projects. One final point: it is important that a particular action is not viewed as an end in itself. Students need opportunities to evaluate the action taken, reflect on its nature and impact, and possibly reformulate the action. The simple point is that an action orientation and an action competence (as Jensen, 2004, called it) are established over time and are rooted in reflective practice.
Though my inclination would be to give over the entire science curriculum to this kind of issues-based approach, I am not so naïve as to think this is likely to happen any time soon. Indeed, Nashon, Nielsen, and Petrina (2008) noted that although “high church” STS (to use Steve Fuller's [1993] term for science studies courses emphasizing academic issues in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science) is rapidly gaining popularity at the university level, “low church” or activist STS is losing ground in schools, at least in British Columbia. However, it is possible to implement the kind of issues-based approach advocated in this article alongside a more conventional subject-oriented curriculum, provided that neither students nor teachers see it as a mere add-on or motivational adornment. Confrontation of issues, consideration of underlying values, and taking action need to be fully integrated into the curriculum.
Of course, there are teachers who will argue that politicization is not a legitimate goal of science and technology education (or of any school-based education, for that matter) and that sociopolitical action has no place in school. There will also be those who support these activities in principle but are uncertain about what constitutes appropriate, acceptable, and worthwhile action. Many questions spring to mind. Who decides what is acceptable and responsible action? What are the relevant criteria? What is the balance to be drawn between socially acceptable actions that may be politically ineffective and effective actions that may be widely seen as socially unacceptable? Will teachers be prepared to support student actions that provoke the disapproval of parents, school administrators, local politicians, or local businesses? Are we prepared for a situation in which students who are well coached in action skills choose to direct those skills against aspects of the institution in which they study and/or the community in which they live? Those teachers who promote involvement and develop action skills are “riding a tiger,” but it is a tiger that may well have to be ridden if we really mean what we say about education for civic participation. I do not seek to minimize the difficulties that teachers face in deciding a course of action. All I can do is urge teachers and students to be critical, reflective, robust in argument, and sensitive to diverse values and beliefs but above all to have the courage and strength of will to do what they believe is right and good and just.