Changing children's views of science and scientists through school-based teaching

Cultural-historical perspective: transformation through participation

Research on the transformation of understandings through participation (Rogoff, 1995) has important implications for science teaching and learning. From a cultural-historical perspective, three planes of participation, the personal, interpersonal and cultural or institutional (Rogoff, 1998) are applicable to any activity, including practical activity in science. These different planes can be likened to lenses that enable the focus to be on individuals, or groups of people as they participate in cultural activities such as science.

Using personal, interpersonal and community/institutional planes of analysis involves focusing on one plane, but still using background information from the other planes, as if with different lenses. (Rogoff, 1998:688)

The interpersonal lens enables the focus to be on the relationships that support or structure the shared understanding. When researchers change their focus, the interactions are analysed without prioritising any particular plane, nor isolating it from the other planes. "Foregrounding one plane of focus still involves the participation of the backgrounded planes of focus" (Rogoff 1995:140). These planes of participation are inseparable, yet mutual, and show an individual's participation or involvement in a cultural context.

A focus on the 'personal plane of participation' allows researchers to concentrate on the role of the individual and identify how that individual changes through involvement in a particular activity. Shifting focus to the 'interpersonal plane of participation' enables researchers to identify how individuals communicate with one another as they engage in shared endeavours. Highlighting the 'cultural or institutional plane of participation' reveals how people use cultural tools as they participate with others in culturally organized activities. These activities are often determined by institutional practices with inherent cultural values. Rogoff's (1998) three foci of analysis allows researchers to go beyond researching simply the individual's framework for thinking about science to concentrating on how the relations between the individual and others within their community shape what they pay attention to. What a community values, including how a community positions its scientists - whether by popular press or otherwise - has a lasting effect upon children and young people (see Roth & Lee 2004).

Cultural-historical theory provides a useful framework for understanding teaching and learning because it moves the unit of analysis beyond the individual and examines both the relations between people, culture, community and institutions, such as schools. Hedegaard and Chaiklin (2005) have written extensively on the 'double move approach to instruction', where the subject-matter concepts are integrated with children's everyday knowledge by using theoretical knowledge as the frame for school activities. The double move approach stems from Davydov's (1988) developmental teaching-learning approach. The theoretical knowledge is a tool for linking local and personal everyday knowledge with the core concepts. The purpose of the double move is to enable a person to acquire theoretical knowledge (by integrating local knowledge with core concepts) and then use it in the person's local practice. In the double move approach the teaching situation is organized in such a way that the content of local knowledge is highly valued and used to develop theoretical knowledge. Children's understandings are enhanced when their personal everyday knowledge of community and home practice, becomes integrated with subject-matter knowledge. The children's enriched understanding is helpful to their understanding of everyday local practice. When the unit of analysis goes beyond the individual and examines the social, cultural and institutional dimensions, it becomes possible to see how community views on the nature of science and being a scientist must be highlighted when researching science education.