Running Head: Discursive Psychology in/for Science Education Understanding Beliefs, Identity, Conceptions, and Motivations from A Discursive Psychology Perspective Pei-Ling Hsu & Wolff-Michael Roth University of Victoria MacLaurin Building A548 University of Victoria Victoria, B. C. V8W 3N4 Canada Tel: (250) 721-7885 Fax: (250) 721-7598 Email:
[email protected] (Pei-Ling Hsu);
[email protected] (Wolff-Michael Roth) Keywords: Discursive psychology, Discourse analysis, Research methods, Discourse, Language use. In science education, psychological (rather than sociological) frameworks play central roles in guiding investigators to theorize and conduct their research objects. For instance, Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development has been used for decades to understand the benefits of hands-on learning, Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy still is used to articulate behavioral objectives and learning outcomes, and Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism still contributes widely to science educators’ understanding of learning. Recent developments in the social sciences have allowed a form of (social) psychology to emerge that takes a different avenue to understanding psychological phenomena 1 including cognition, affect, beliefs, identity, conceptions, and motivations: discursive psychology. The purpose of this chapter is to articulate and exemplify this theoretical framework relatively new to and not yet widely used in science education. Only a decade ago, Harold Garfinkel (1996) asked the thought provoking question, “What more [is there to social scientific research]?” His “what more?” did not concern more of the same type of formal analysis, almost all of the existing quantitative and qualitative methods, but a recognition and utilization of the methods of analysis that people (ethno-) themselves deploy to realize everyday, immortal society in general and science classes in particular.