Children’s literature operates as discursive social structures that establish young readers’ understanding of gender, including masculinities. Oftentimes, however, children’s literature perpetuates limited or normative constructions of gender. This is particularly the case for two genres that are popular with male readers: fantasy and comedy. Both genres for young readers contribute to the maintenance of a hegemony of masculinity that values independence, action, resourcefulness, and bravery.While some fantasy and comedy series for young readers begin to expand the repertoire of acceptable masculine traits by incorporating empathy and consideration of others, validating more sensitive models of masculinity, they do not necessarily undermine the hierarchy seemingly inherent to masculine dynamics. By understanding the complex and sometimes contradictory messages about masculinity that are presented in books for young people, educators can develop critical ways of reading fiction to engage children in meaningful conversations about gendered identities in order to promote acceptance and understanding of all genders and differences, not just those relating to masculinities.
Article
Representing Masculinities in Children’s Literature Series
Troy Potter
Article
Sociocultural Perspectives in Science Education
Sara Tolbert, Paulina Grino, and Tenzin Sonam
Since the late 20th century, scholarship in science education has made considerable shifts from cognitive psychology and individual constructivism toward sociocultural theories of science education as frameworks for science teaching and learning. By and large, this scholarship has attended to the ways in which both doing and learning science are embedded within sociocultural contexts, whereby learners are enculturated into scientific practices through classroom-based or scientific learning communities, such as through an apprenticeship model. Still, science education theories and practice do not systematically take into account the experiences, interests, and concerns of marginalized student groups within science and science education. Critical sociocultural perspectives in science education take up issues and questions of how science education can better serve the interests of marginalized groups, while simultaneously creating spaces for marginalized groups to transform the sciences, and science education.
These shifts in science education scholarship have been accompanied by a similar shift in qualitative research methods. Research methods in science education are transitioning from a focus on positivistic content analysis of learners’ conceptions of core ideas in science, toward more robust qualitative methods—such as design experimentation, critical ethnography, and participatory research methods—that show how learners’ identities are constituted with the complex spaces of science classrooms, as well as within larger societal matrices of oppression. The focus of this article is to communicate these recent trends in sociocultural perspectives on science education theory, research, and practice.