York University Professor Steve Alsop is the recipient of the prestigious 2016 Svend Pedersen Lecture Award from the Department of Mathematics & Science Education at Stockholm University. Alsop delivered the award lecture May 26 in Vivi Täckholmssalen.
The Svend Pedersen Lecture is awarded annually to a researcher who has made a major and lasting contribution within the fields of mathematics education or science education. As a lecturer at the Department of Mathematics & Science Education at Stockholm Institute of Education, Pedersen took the initiative in the late 1970s to incorporate results from science education research into the curricula of teacher education. Many teachers and educators in Stockholm got their first introduction to education research as a result of taking Pedersen’s courses. He was also the first person to defend a doctoral thesis in science education at Stockholm University. Research at the Department of Mathematics and Science Education rests on the foundation laid by Pedersen.
Alsop’s award lecture, “Science education and promises and politics of affect,” explored values, desires and wishes that shape contemporary studies of emotions in science and education. The lecture considered “what can be learned from how science and education researchers study emotions” and “what possibilities and promises might emotions and affect offer our science pedagogies and research.” It also looked at how science and education become entangled and heavily invested in particular structures, relationships and practices, and concluded with a forward-looking focus on science education and climate justice.
“We are very proud that Professor Alsop was chosen to give the Pedersen lecture and of the recognition that this award brings to the Faculty of Education,” said Ron Owston, dean of the Faculty of Education. “We wish him the best of success.”
Alsop is internationally recognized for his pioneering research in science education, which has had a major and lasting impact on the field and for the development of research at the Department of Mathematics & Science Education, Stockholm University. His research explores personal, social, political and pedagogical articulations of technoscience in educational settings and contexts, including schools, universities, museums, science centres and environmental organizations.
Alsop teaches courses and supervises graduate students in the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Environmental Studies and Department of Science & Technology Studies.