In search of intellectual emancipation: reading as inquiry in an elementary science classroom

"This dissertation reconceptualizes traditional science education pedagogy and proposes an emancipatory model for students learning science. The foundation for the model is an interpretation of intellectual emancipation as theorized and articulated by Jacque Ranciere (1991) in the Ignorant Schoolmaster. The study focuses on reading as inquiry in school science and the use of a student's first language as a learning resource. The investigation seeks to observe the teacher and students' journey towards intellectual emancipation as students learn science and discover or gain knowledge of their intellectual abilities.

Specifically, my research study presupposes that school science can be a stultifying environment where the teacher heavily controls knowledge. Within this context, learning through inquiry is too often conducted with an emphasis on 'hands-on' activities. This overemphasis leaves little room for the development of inquiry through reading and therefore, implicitly de-emphasizes the importance of reading for the development of independent, autonomous thinkers for a scientifically literate populace.

The experiment is set within the context of teaching science to English language learners. From a stance of ""teacher/researcher"" (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993), I conduct an action research study with multilingual and multiethnic grade six students within an urban elementary classroom setting. I changed my classroom practices to foster greater 'intellectual emancipation' through the use of reading as a form of science inquiry.

Student behaviors or themes emerged from the data that I associated with expressions of intellectual emancipation. The results of the study and the interpretation of the results add to the discourse of emancipation, inquiry, and learning science. Inquiry is widely advocated in practice, research and policy. A study such as this supports classroom teachers to challenge the dominant approach to inquiry in school science as 'hands-on' and to seize the emancipatory opportunities that inquiry as 'minds-on' offers for the development of the whole learner."