PhD Oral Exam - Tatiana Gladcheff Zanon Spina, Individualized Program

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

This study examined 17 science textbooks using a mixed-methods approach that combined quantitative and qualitative analyses. We conducted an analysis of visual, textual and discursive elements across all selected science textbooks. The textbooks included in this study are science textbooks from grades 7-9 that have been officially adopted and are in use in Canadian provinces.

Driven by Canada´s increasing cultural and ethnic diversity and the unique demographic composition of its population, we investigated how diversity is portrayed in curriculum materials in the context of science. We aimed to determine whether these materials reinforce or counteract colonial narratives in their content. The textbooks were approached from decolonial and post-colonial approaches, feminist science and technology studies and othering to identify issues of representation and colonial discourses. Content Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) were used as analytical tools.

We focused on how particular social groups are positioned and how particular places and historical times were presented. Prior research has shown that textbooks are colonial artifacts. They often contain “hidden” messages that present a Westernized standpoint of science, frequently omitting or marginalizing “other” ways of knowing by excluding the participation of women, Indigenous peoples and visible minorities in the construction of knowledge. This research, then, engages in ongoing debates about bias in textbooks and contributes to creating awareness about how textbooks might work as exclusion mechanisms for particular social groups by reproducing colonial narratives.

Our findings indicate that the selected science textbooks reproduce and reinforce biased representations across all three elements analyzed. In the image analysis, visible minorities appear overrepresented relative to their proportion in Canadian society; however, when examining the intersection of gender, racialization, and professional role, we found that famous or highlighted scientists are predominantly portrayed as White and male persons. Similarly, our textual analysis revealed that most scientists are from contemporary times, yet the majority are still male persons and of European or North American origin. The discursive analysis further demonstrated how colonial discourses are embedded in the language and structure of texts, sustaining power relations through polarizing binary constructions that oppose Western scientific authorities and scientific knowledge to marginalized or absent “other” knowledge holders and ways of knowing, thus reinforcing established social and cultural hierarchies. These results reveal how curriculum materials continue to reproduce hierarchies within science by reinforcing dominant perspectives of who produces scientific knowledge and where knowledge construction is situated, thereby excluding situated knowledges rooted in different cultural and geopolitical contexts. By revealing the mechanisms through which exclusion and authority are constructed in science textbooks' narratives, this research contributes to ongoing efforts to decolonize science education and promote social justice by proposing a more inclusive and pluralistic understanding of knowledge construction.