When Science is Strangely Alluring: Interrogating the masculinist and heteronormative nature of primary school science

Abstract

Starting from the literature that interrogates the gendered nature of science and school science, this article considers the ways in which primary school science is masculinist and heteronormative. The author takes up Jane Miller's (1991) notion of the seductiveness of grand narratives (in this case school science) to envision the largely implicit ways in which school science may attract or repel certain students and teachers. Using this framework, the author 'reads' examples from the realms of pedagogy, curriculum and policy in primary school science, and concludes by examining some of the reasons why it is important to critically probe how these heterogendered boundaries are produced and reproduced with/in school science.