Bridging constructivism and social constructionism: The journey from narrative to dialogical approaches and towards synchrony.

The proliferation of studies declaring that there is a genetic basis to health disparities and behavioral differences across the so-called races has encouraged the opponents of social constructionism to assert a victory for scientific progress over political correctness. I am not concerned in this essay with providing a response to critics who believe races are expressions of innate genetic or biological differences. Instead, I am interested in how genetic research on human differences has divided social constructionists over whether the race concept in science can be used for social justice and redressing embodied forms of discrimination. On one side, there is the position that race is an inherently flawed concept and that its continued use by scientists, medical professionals, and even social activists keeps alive the notion that it has a biological basis. On the other side of this debate are those who maintain a social constructionist position yet argue that not all instances of race in science stem from discriminatory politics or the desire to prove that humans belong to discrete biological units that can then be classified as superior or inferior. I would like to shift this debate away from the question of whether race is real and move instead toward thinking about the intellectual commitments necessary for science to expose past legacies of discrimination.

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Introduction

10.1093/oso/9780190857790.003.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Patrick Colm Hogan

Keyword(s):

Queer Theory ◽

Social Constructionism ◽

The Other ◽

Sexual Identities ◽

The Third ◽

Sexuality And Gender ◽

And Gender ◽

Sexual Part ◽

The One ◽

And Behavior

The introduction first sets out some preliminary definitions of sex, sexuality, and gender. It then turns from the sexual part of Sexual Identities to the identity part. A great deal of confusion results from failing to distinguish between identity in the sense of a category with which one identifies (categorial identity) and identity in the sense of a set of patterns that characterize one’s cognition, emotion, and behavior (practical identity). The second section gives a brief summary of this difference. The third and fourth sections sketch the relation of the book to social constructionism and queer theory, on the one hand, and evolutionary-cognitive approaches to sex, sexuality, and gender, on the other. The fifth section outlines the value of literature in not only illustrating, but advancing a research program in sex, sexuality, and gender identity. Finally, the introduction provides an overview of the chapters in this volume.

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Children helping to co-construct a digital tool that is designed to increase children’s participation in child welfare investigations in Sweden

Qualitative Social Work ◽

10.1177/1473325021990864 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 147332502199086

Author(s):

Helena Blomberg ◽

Gunnel Östlund ◽

Philip Rautell Lindstedt ◽

Baran Cürüklü

Keyword(s):

Social Workers ◽

Social Constructionism ◽

Life Stories ◽

Social Innovation ◽

Narrative Approach ◽

Visual Ethnography ◽

Digital Tool ◽

Interdisciplinary Research Project ◽

Children’S Participation ◽

Children's Participation

How do children (aged 6–12 years) understand and make use of a digital tool that is under development? This article builds on an ongoing interdisciplinary research project in which children, social workers (the inventers of this social innovation) and researchers together develop an interactive digital tool (application) to strengthen children’s participation during the planning and process of welfare assessments. Departing from social constructionism, and using a discursive narrative approach with visual ethnography, the aim of the article is to display how the children co-construct the application and contribute with “stories of life situations” by drawing themselves as characters and the places they frequent. The findings show that the children improved the application by suggesting more affordances so that they could better create themselves/others, by discovering bugs, and by showing how it could appeal to children of various ages. The application helped the children to start communicating and bonding when creating themselves in detail, drawing places/characters and describing events associated with them, and sharing small life stories. The application can help children and social workers to connect and facilitate children’s participation by allowing them to focus on their own perspectives when drawing and sharing stories.

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eLearning Tools at the University of Botswana: Relevance and Use Under COVID-19 Crisis

Higher Education for the Future ◽

10.1177/2347631120986281 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 142-154

Author(s):

Poloko N. Ntshwarang ◽

Tumani Malinga ◽

Nonofo Losike-Sedimo

Keyword(s):

Social Constructionism ◽

Social Constructivism ◽

Computer Literacy ◽

University Of Botswana ◽

Information Communications Technology ◽

Poor Access ◽

Learning Platforms ◽

Excess Number ◽

Instruction And Learning ◽

The University

Information communications technology (ICT) is currently a highly sought component of every higher learning institutions, especially universities and colleges gravitate towards eLearning mode of instruction and knowledge acquisition. eLearning encompass multiple technology and Internet-based learning platforms that requires computer literacy from both learners and instructors. eLearning has been upgraded such that it offers more flexibility and comfort as instruction and learning occurs any time and at the users’ preferred environment. However, for most African Universities, the challenge in the use of eLearning is expedited by excess number of students, poor infrastructural development and poor access to the Internet off campus. At the University of Botswana, the need and urgency to address aforementioned difficulties was exposed in the era of COVID-19 pandemic where the use of eLearning was a dare situation for both instructors and learners. In this article, the authors discuss the background of eLearning tools at the University of Botswana, types of eLearning tools, their relevance, use, advantages and the challenges encountered. Prospects are also discussed. The article is based on the experiences of the authors, their observations, as well as the literature review and the use of the social constructionism or social constructivism theory.

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Integrated STEM for Teacher Professional Learning and Development: “I Need Time for Practice”

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci11010021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 21

Author(s):

Andrea C. Burrows ◽

Mike Borowczak ◽

Adam Myers ◽

Andria C. Schwortz ◽

Courtney McKim

Keyword(s):

Professional Learning ◽

Social Constructionism ◽

Teacher Professional Learning ◽

Authentic Science ◽

Learning And Development ◽

Integrated Stem ◽

The Usa ◽

Teacher Professional ◽

And Mathematics ◽

K 12

This study compares three pre-collegiate teacher professional learning and development (PLD) integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experiences framed in astronomy. The study is set in the western United States (USA) and involves 60 pre-collegiate teachers (in the USA these are K-12 teachers) over the course of three years (June 2014–May 2017). During the PLDs, astronomy acted as a vehicle for pre-collegiate STEM teachers to increase their STEM content knowledge as well as create and implement integrated STEM classroom lessons. The authors collected quantitative and qualitative data to address five research questions and embraced social constructionism as the theoretical framework. Findings show that STEM pre-collegiate teachers are largely engaged with integrated STEM PLD content and embrace astronomy content and authentic science. Importantly, they need time to practice, interpret, translate, and use the integrated STEM content in classroom lessons. Recommendations for PLD STEM teacher support are provided. Implications of this study are vast, as gaps in authentic science, utilizing astronomy, PLD structure, and STEM integration are ripe for exploration.

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