From Science Teaching to Popular Education in science and STEM education: involvement of science education in the defence of Science in France (1950s-2000s)
Résumé
Since the nineteenth-century, science teachers have been given the task of combating prejudices and developing rational thinking and scientific ways of looking at the natural and social word. In the first half of the Twentieth Century, many science teachers got involved or interested in movements in favor of science such as rationalist movements led by researchers and academics. In the course of the century and, more specifically, since the 1950s, pro-science movements diversified and took up different roles while new tools and concepts were being explored to scientifically educate children. This contribution will focus on filiations and networks of groups engaged in scientific education aimed at youngsters in France from the 1950s to the 2000s. It will characterize different initiatives through the context in which educational aims were pursued (schooling, extracurricular activities), the sociological and professional identities of educators, and the way they tended to describe the scientific field. Through this dynamic cartography, I will show how the diverse and sometimes conflicting galaxy of science education has been involved in the defence of science in the public space in France, both theoretically and empirically.