Constructing relations between STEM researchers and publics: A case study of empathy in action

Tanner Vea, Brandon Reynante, Shelley Goldman

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

How academic researchers engage with non-researchers is critical to supporting the public's understanding of complex socio-scientific and sociotechnical challenges. In this paper, we examine the learning of one scientist, Murphy, in the STEM Liaison Program (SLP), a project that trained university STEM researchers to design public engagement events. Focusing on the ways “empathy” was represented in trainings and enacted by Murphy as a kind of emotional configuration (Vea, 2020), we track accompanying shifts in how Murphy saw youth in a residential treatment facility and his own role in conducting public engagement efforts with them. We argue that tracing the co-constitution of emotional configurations with “relationship schemas” (Polletta, 2020), cognitive and cultural representations of the nature of relationships and what obligations they entail, can expand the learning sciences' understandings of relationships as a learning outcome with important societal implications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationInternational Collaboration toward Educational Innovation for All
Subtitle of host publicationOverarching Research, Development, and Practices - 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS 2022
EditorsClark Chinn, Edna Tan, Carol Chan, Yael Kali
PublisherInternational Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS)
Pages575-582
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781737330653
StatePublished - 2022
Event16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS 2022 - Virtual, Online, Japan
Duration: Jun 6 2022Jun 10 2022

Publication series

NameProceedings of International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS
ISSN (Print)1814-9316

Conference

Conference16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS 2022
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityVirtual, Online
Period6/6/226/10/22

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Science (miscellaneous)
  • Education

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