Beyond the ‘two cultures’ in the teaching of disaster: or how disaster education and science education could benefit each other
Beyond the ‘two cultures’ in the teaching of disaster: or how disaster education and science education could benefit each other
Looking at the current discourse on how to teach disaster, one apparent gap is that the scientific aspect of disaster is discussed and taught mostly in isolation from its human aspect. Disaster educators seem to be primarily interested in addressing issues such as social vulnerability, community resilience, personal action-related knowledge and emotion rather than the scientific basis of disasters, whereas science educators often fail to make connections between the scientific accounts of disasters and the social and political contexts that surround them. In this theoretical paper, I claim that this disconnect is problematic and that overcoming it is a key to understanding and teaching disaster in a more nuanced and comprehensive manner. Drawing primarily on science and technology studies (STS) on disaster, I explore the potential of interpreting disasters as failures of socio-technical systems, which helps us unearth the inner workings of the complex network of science, technology and society in the wake of calamities. STS challenges the dichotomous understanding of the material and social worlds and takes a view that they shape each other to constitute socio-technical systems. Taking such an approach to disaster allows a synthetic understanding of the natural, technological and human-made disasters that we are faced with in the age of uncertainty and complexity. Based on the ideas of STS and examples of recent disasters in East Asian countries, I argue that disaster education and science education can cross-pollinate in tackling the post-disaster hardship and cultivating responsible citizens.
1434-1448
Park, Wonyong
eae3796e-fc99-43ba-98be-53ea5bdb14fc
9 November 2020
Park, Wonyong
eae3796e-fc99-43ba-98be-53ea5bdb14fc
Park, Wonyong
(2020)
Beyond the ‘two cultures’ in the teaching of disaster: or how disaster education and science education could benefit each other.
Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52 (13), .
(doi:10.1080/00131857.2020.1751126).
Abstract
Looking at the current discourse on how to teach disaster, one apparent gap is that the scientific aspect of disaster is discussed and taught mostly in isolation from its human aspect. Disaster educators seem to be primarily interested in addressing issues such as social vulnerability, community resilience, personal action-related knowledge and emotion rather than the scientific basis of disasters, whereas science educators often fail to make connections between the scientific accounts of disasters and the social and political contexts that surround them. In this theoretical paper, I claim that this disconnect is problematic and that overcoming it is a key to understanding and teaching disaster in a more nuanced and comprehensive manner. Drawing primarily on science and technology studies (STS) on disaster, I explore the potential of interpreting disasters as failures of socio-technical systems, which helps us unearth the inner workings of the complex network of science, technology and society in the wake of calamities. STS challenges the dichotomous understanding of the material and social worlds and takes a view that they shape each other to constitute socio-technical systems. Taking such an approach to disaster allows a synthetic understanding of the natural, technological and human-made disasters that we are faced with in the age of uncertainty and complexity. Based on the ideas of STS and examples of recent disasters in East Asian countries, I argue that disaster education and science education can cross-pollinate in tackling the post-disaster hardship and cultivating responsible citizens.
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Accepted/In Press date: 10 March 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 26 April 2020
Published date: 9 November 2020
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Local EPrints ID: 453388
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/453388
ISSN: 0013-1857
PURE UUID: f154300d-d868-412a-8ea2-ac231054b37a
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Date deposited: 13 Jan 2022 18:19
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:09
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Wonyong Park
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