Cultural content knowledge – The case of physics education

Abstract

If one thinks in terms of the commonplaces of science education which are, teacher, student, environment and subject-matter (Schwab, 1964), plurality and dialogism have introduced substantial changes in the first three commonplaces. The commonplace subject-matter, has remained univocally focused on the scientific truth, an approach not in accordance with the nature of scientific knowledge. Given issues raised about the effectiveness of science teaching and the need for scientific literacy amongst citizens, this paper attempts to provide a framework for introducing plurality and dialogism into subject-matter aligning the teaching of subject-matter with the nature of science. Science knowledge itself is considered a culture and science knowledge is presented as a cultural presentation in the process of science teaching. In accordance, the Cultural Content Knowledge (CCK) will be introduced and exemplified (Galili, 2011). This paper is situated in physics but applies equally to all sciences.