Constructing Your Self in School Science

It has been repeatedly argued that young people need to acquire science knowledge, skills and competencies, so that future economies can maintain social welfare, economic growth and international competitiveness. However, the attainment of understanding in science is not the only importance of school science. Classrooms together with the new technological tools that are being used are places that fabricate and (re)align how young people see themselves in science and form their subjectivity in relation to society’s core values and rationalities and are embodied in primary science education practices. This article is concerned with subjectivity, meaning the sense and experience of self that children construct while being part of school science and the role that digital technology plays. Research conducted in New Zealand and Denmark illustrates examples of different educational cultures found in science classrooms. The findings suggest that digital tools used in classrooms expand not only the means of teaching and learning science but represent spaces for the emergence, negotiation and struggle of different forms of subjectivities.