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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• Environmental and sustainability issues
• Narrative inquiry
• Science curriculum
• Teacher knowledge
• Repertoire

Notes

1. For further discussion on the genre of environmental education, see Canadian Journal of Environmental Education 2002, 7(2); Environmental Education Research 2007, 13(2).

2. For critical review of SLE concept, see Environmental Education Research, 1998, 9(8).

3. Korea Energy Management Corporation (http://www.kemco.or.kr/english/index.asp).

4. Saemangum reclamation project was the biggest national development project in the 1990s and brought about severe resistance from environmentalist groups. A brief account: As one of the five biggest tidal flats in the world, preservation of the Saemangeum area has become a concern that extends beyond the borders of Korea. Over 50% of birds migrating between New Zealand and Siberia are estimated to rest on the tidal flat. The area is located along the south‐western shore of the Korean peninsula in the North Cholla Province. It is the main livelihood for most of the surrounding fishing community (Source: http://www.greenkorea.org).

5. A consensus conference is defined as follows: a forum at which a citizens panel, selected from members of the public, questions ‘experts’ (or ‘witnesses’) on a particular topic, assesses the responses, discusses the issues raised and reports its conclusions at a press conference (UK CEED; http://www.ukceed.org). The model first began in Denmark in the late 1980s, and such conferences have been held in many countries since then, including Korea.