Creativity in Science Education: producing new narratives for a sustainable future?

In response to the serious, complex, ecological and ethical issues facing humanity at the current times, this paper examines the role of creativity in science and in science education. It is well documented that science is a creative process. Scientists’ creativity is sought to produce new knowledge and it is often invoked as a means for innovation leading to social and economic development. However, in the face of complex problems both in society and in the environment, current solutions proposed by techno-scientific advancements are also bringing irreversible risks and unpredictable consequences. This paper proposes to reflect on creativity as a malleable and potentially contested notion in science education, framed as it is within divergent and contrasting views of science and technology. Starting from an analysis of the relationships established between science and society in the context of growing environmental imbalances, this paper engages with the formulation of a critical and creative science education, stemming from a deeper awareness of our (inter)connectedness with other people, places, living and non-living world. It is then suggested that the development of higher order thinking skills incorporating creativity can make way into our science programmes, bringing science education in line with a sustainability view.