Rebecca Miller, Harvard Graduate School of Education & PACHS Dissertation Research Fellow
Chemical Heritage Foundation, Brown Bag Lunch Talk
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation
Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org
The professionalization of science in the late 19th century introduced the enduring conception of “scientists” and “non-scientists” as distinct types of people with different educational needs. In subsequent decades, educators engaged in a systematic quest to codify, normalize, and apply ideas about the unique characteristics of each group and how each was expected to make use of scientific knowledge.
This presentation examines how 20th-century U.S. educators constructed and effectuated the notions of “future scientist” and “non-scientist” as entities distinct in makeup, educability, and civic responsibility. It will analyze how these distinctions took shape through the science curriculum, psychological testing and assessment of scientific identities and aptitudes, guidance and vocational counseling, and research on science curriculum and pedagogy. It will further consider how the articulation and enactment of educational differentiation in science both shaped and responded to changing views of the nature of the scientific enterprise and its place in society.
Rebecca B. Miller is a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research focuses on the role of education in mediating the relationship between science and society. Prior to her graduate studies, Miller conducted research on intracellular transport at Princeton University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, worked as a freelance science writer, and developed online courses in science and medicine for Columbia University.