Reproduced, reinterpreted, lost: Trajectories of scientific knowledge across contexts
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Julio Gimenez
Julio Gimenez is a principal lecturer at the Westminster Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation and leads the STEAM Research Group at the University of Westminster. His research focuses on professional communication and academic literacies, which has been published in international journals and edited collections.
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Mark Baldwin
Mark Baldwin is a principal lecturer in the Department of Computer Science. A mathematician and computer scientist with over 25 years’ experience in teaching and learning, his particular area of expertise is in providing students of psychology, neuroscience and life sciences the ability to comprehend and apply quantitative research techniques without fear or anxiety to their own field of expertise. He is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Paul Breen is a senior lecturer in the Westminster Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, with specialism in the areas of English for Academic Purposes, English Language Teaching, educational technology, and writing for academic, creative, and other professional purposes. He has had articles published in both academic and journalistic form, ranging from publications with Taylor & Francis and University of Westminster Press, to media outlets such as The Conversation and The Independent.
Julia Green is a senior lecturer in health sciences, and herbal medicine at the University of Westminster where she is course leader for the MSc Herbal Medicine. With a degree in botany, and a PhD in plant physiology, she has been teaching in higher education since 2005. She coordinated a clinical trial investigating herbal treatment of the menopause, and her research interests include the patient experience and developing research strategies in complementary health.
Ernesto Roque Gutierrez is a PhD student at the Open University, UK. His past research focused on exploratory practice (EP) as a form of classroom research and trajectories of scientific knowledge in the media. He is now interested in usage-based approaches to second language acquisition and the relation between executive functions and bilingualism.
Richard Paterson is a senior lecturer in Academic English and TESOL at the University of Westminster and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His main research interests are in transnational education in Uzbekistan and employability pedagogy. His recent publications have covered topics such as the globalisation of Higher Education and perceptions of employability skills. Currently he is completing his Doctoral degree at University College London/Institute of Education.
Jayne Pearson is an educational developer and higher education researcher at King’s College London. Her main research interests are in assessment, action research, academic discourse and critical language analysis. She worked for many years on academic literacy, linguistics and interdisciplinary research methods courses for international students and has published articles on critical approaches to language assessment.
Martin Percy is a lecturer in Academic English at the University of Westminster. He has extensive experience in teaching undergraduate and post-graduate students in the UK, Poland and Germany, in module leadership, in developing teaching material and assessment methods as well as supervision of MA TESOL dissertations. His research interests focus on interdisciplinary research in academic literacies and critical pedagogies.
Doug Specht is a Director of Teaching and Learning and senior lecturer in the Westminster School of Media and Communication, University of Westminster. His research examines how knowledge is constructed and codified through digital and cartographic artifacts, centering on development issues.
Guy Waddell is director of studies at Heartwood Education. Previously he was a lecturer in herbal medicine in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Westminster. His background is in social sciences and herbal medicine. His book ‘The Enchantment of Western Herbal Medicine: herbalists, plants and non-human agency in the UK’ will be published in February 2020 (Aeon Books). He is currently editing a collected teachings of herbalists Christopher Hedley and Non Shaw.
Abstract
This article reports on a research project that uses two innovative heuristics to examine the changes that texts – produced to disseminate new scientific knowledge – undergo when they travel across space and time. A critical analysis of such transformations would enhance our understanding of the processes involved in knowledge dissemination and inform the practice of communicating scientific knowledge to a variety of audiences. Based on our study of 520 closely linked science and science-related sources collected over 12 months in 2016, we argue that when scientific knowledge is re-contextualized to be disseminated to different audiences, it is not simply rephrased or simplified to make it more accessible. Rather, it also undergoes transformational processes that involve issues of social power, authority and access that require new analytical tools to surface more clearly. We report on the methodology of the study with a particular focus on its heuristics, and the transformations that result from a critical analysis of the data collected. We finally discuss a number of theoretical and practical implications in relation to contemporary practices for re-entextualizing scientific knowledge.
About the authors
Julio Gimenez is a principal lecturer at the Westminster Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation and leads the STEAM Research Group at the University of Westminster. His research focuses on professional communication and academic literacies, which has been published in international journals and edited collections.
Mark Baldwin is a principal lecturer in the Department of Computer Science. A mathematician and computer scientist with over 25 years’ experience in teaching and learning, his particular area of expertise is in providing students of psychology, neuroscience and life sciences the ability to comprehend and apply quantitative research techniques without fear or anxiety to their own field of expertise. He is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Paul Breen is a senior lecturer in the Westminster Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, with specialism in the areas of English for Academic Purposes, English Language Teaching, educational technology, and writing for academic, creative, and other professional purposes. He has had articles published in both academic and journalistic form, ranging from publications with Taylor & Francis and University of Westminster Press, to media outlets such as The Conversation and The Independent.
Julia Green is a senior lecturer in health sciences, and herbal medicine at the University of Westminster where she is course leader for the MSc Herbal Medicine. With a degree in botany, and a PhD in plant physiology, she has been teaching in higher education since 2005. She coordinated a clinical trial investigating herbal treatment of the menopause, and her research interests include the patient experience and developing research strategies in complementary health.
Ernesto Roque Gutierrez is a PhD student at the Open University, UK. His past research focused on exploratory practice (EP) as a form of classroom research and trajectories of scientific knowledge in the media. He is now interested in usage-based approaches to second language acquisition and the relation between executive functions and bilingualism.
Richard Paterson is a senior lecturer in Academic English and TESOL at the University of Westminster and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His main research interests are in transnational education in Uzbekistan and employability pedagogy. His recent publications have covered topics such as the globalisation of Higher Education and perceptions of employability skills. Currently he is completing his Doctoral degree at University College London/Institute of Education.
Jayne Pearson is an educational developer and higher education researcher at King’s College London. Her main research interests are in assessment, action research, academic discourse and critical language analysis. She worked for many years on academic literacy, linguistics and interdisciplinary research methods courses for international students and has published articles on critical approaches to language assessment.
Martin Percy is a lecturer in Academic English at the University of Westminster. He has extensive experience in teaching undergraduate and post-graduate students in the UK, Poland and Germany, in module leadership, in developing teaching material and assessment methods as well as supervision of MA TESOL dissertations. His research interests focus on interdisciplinary research in academic literacies and critical pedagogies.
Doug Specht is a Director of Teaching and Learning and senior lecturer in the Westminster School of Media and Communication, University of Westminster. His research examines how knowledge is constructed and codified through digital and cartographic artifacts, centering on development issues.
Guy Waddell is director of studies at Heartwood Education. Previously he was a lecturer in herbal medicine in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Westminster. His background is in social sciences and herbal medicine. His book ‘The Enchantment of Western Herbal Medicine: herbalists, plants and non-human agency in the UK’ will be published in February 2020 (Aeon Books). He is currently editing a collected teachings of herbalists Christopher Hedley and Non Shaw.
Appendix
Pattern 1
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Zhang, Qicheng, Kevin J. Walsh, Carl Melis, Gary B. Hughes, & Philip Lubin. 2015. Orbital simulations for directed energy deflection of near-earth asteroids. Procedia Engineering, 103. 671–678.
Pattern 2
Carrington, Damian. 23 May 2016. World could warm by massive 10C if all fossil fuels are burned. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/23/world-could-warm-by-massive-10c-if-all-fossil-fuels-are-burned (accessed 9 October 2017).
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Tokarska, Katarzyna B., Nathan P. Gillett, Andrew J. Weaver, Vivek K. Arora, & Michael Eby. 2016. The climate response to five trillion tonnes of carbon. Nature Climate Change, 6(9). 851–855.
Pattern 3
Coghlan, Andy. 16 March 2016. Rats learn to sense infrared in hours thanks to brain implants. The New Scientist, 3066, 45. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2080671-rats-learn-to-sense-infrared-in-hours-thanks-to-brain-implants/ (accessed 9 October 2017).
Gray, Richard. 17 March 2016. Could we soon have superhero NIGHT VISION? Brain implants could give us a ‘sixth sense’ by making us see infrared. Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3496895/Could-soon-superhero-NIGHT-VISION-Brain-implants-rats-sixth-sense-making-infrared.html (accessed 9 October 2017).
Hartmann, Konstantin, Eric E. Thomson, Ivan Zea, Richy Yun, Peter Mullen, Jay Canarick, Albert Huh, & Miguel A. L. Nicolelis. 2016. Embedding a panoramic representation of infrared light in the adult rat somatosensory cortex through a sensory neuroprosthesis. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(8). 2406–24.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Legal constraints and judicial discretion in sentencing practice: Appraisal analysis of the sentencing remarks for Terri Palmer
- Reproduced, reinterpreted, lost: Trajectories of scientific knowledge across contexts
- Third turn position in British election phone-in conversations
- “To have or not to have a boyfriend?” Large identities in small stories
- ‘You wanted to know about expat life’: Authenticating identity in blogs about transnational relocation
- Language teachers’ narratives of professional experience in online class discussions
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Legal constraints and judicial discretion in sentencing practice: Appraisal analysis of the sentencing remarks for Terri Palmer
- Reproduced, reinterpreted, lost: Trajectories of scientific knowledge across contexts
- Third turn position in British election phone-in conversations
- “To have or not to have a boyfriend?” Large identities in small stories
- ‘You wanted to know about expat life’: Authenticating identity in blogs about transnational relocation
- Language teachers’ narratives of professional experience in online class discussions
