Ideological Resistance and the Aims of Science Education

Anjan Chakravartty (University of Miami)

In learning science, a significant majority of people will have no more than what is commonly called a “general education” – typically, culminating in one or two science courses at the high school level if that. Arguably, this amounts to very little time spent on something so important, given how much ends up riding on the attitudes of citizens toward the sciences later in life, in supporting or opposing agendas for scientific research, and resulting in often highly consequential support or lack thereof for its uptake in public policy. Add to this the not uncommon, cultural phenomenon of skepticism regarding the sciences stemming from group-identity commitments inculcated by parents and other influential figures and communities, and the challenges facing general science education are yet more severe. In this talk, I consider how best to conceive the aims of science education generally and in contexts of ideological resistance.