Objectivity and emotions in school science

What is it about?

Objectivity is important in science, but understanding how it is performed by children in science classes is also important because of the emotional experience of being objective. We explore the ways in which school students perform objectivity during a science inquiry activity, and we analyse their emotional experiences of self-prohibition and respect that make objectivity possible in the social context of a school classroom.

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Why is it important?

Our study illustrates how objectivity may be viewed as a performed localized practice that is visible to both teachers and students without being formally defined. The emotional experiences we discuss around being objective have implications for understanding student identity and possible barriers toward wanting to do science. The study also has implications for approaches in performance assessment of school science and in the ways we might teach pre-service science teachers.

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