Tension Between Visions of Science Education: The Case of Energy Quality in Swedish Secondary Science Curricula

Abstract

The aim of this study is to contribute to an understanding of how curricular change is accomplished in practice, including the positions and conflicts of key stakeholders and participants, and their actions in the process. As a case, we study the treatment of energy in Swedish secondary curricula in the period 1962–2011 and, in particular, how the notion of energy quality was introduced in the curricula in an energy course at upper secondary school in 1983 and in physics at lower secondary school in 1994. In the analysis, we use Roberts’ two competing visions of science education, Vision I in which school science subjects largely mirror their corresponding academic disciplines and Vision II that incorporates societal matters of science. In addition, a newly suggested Vision III represents a critical perspective on science education. Our analysis shows how Vision II and III aspects of science education have gained importance in curricula since the 1980s, but in competition with Vision I considerations. Energy quality played a central role in providing Vision II and III arguments in the curricular debate on energy teaching. Subsequent educational research has found that Swedish teachers and students struggle with how to relate to energy quality in physics teaching, which we explain as partly due to the tension between the competing visions.