I finally got the paper hardback copy of the second book I have contributed to this year – Building Networks for Critical and Altruistic Science Education, edited by John Lawrence Bencze. Seen together with the other volume – Bildung for Engineering Education and Practice edited by Anders Buch and the late Steen Hyldgaard Christensen, it is timely to ask the question whether they are connected, apart from the similarities of the first words of the title (Building/BIldung) and my participation.
I would say definitely. The critical and altruistic (particularly in the sense of engaging actively in the society in which you live and work) are key in most descriptions of the central/northern european concept of Bildung. As such there are large thematic cross sections. This is of course enhanced by the similar cross sections between science- and engineering education.
A very concrete example of this is the inclusion of a very interesting chapter by Jesper Sjöström in the “Building” book on the three visions of scientific literacy, equating the third with Critical-Eco-Reflexive Bildung. At the same time, he is probably the most cited author in the “Bildung”-book (along with his co-author Ingo Eilks) because of two seminal papers on Bildung in engineering and science education.
As such the two volumes complement each other quite well, one focused on science education and encompassing the whole span of educational activities in students’ education, the other focusing on engineering and as such higher education, but both emphasizing the need to expand the focus of education and to situate science and technology into the societies they operate, and critically engage with the consequences of technology and science, and the way they influence the world, and the world them.