Joining the Faculty of Education in 2023, Dr. Cristiano B. Moura came to SFU from Brazil, where he taught at the Federal Center for Technological Education Celso Suckow da Fonseca. From 2019, he held the position of assistant professor in the Graduate Program in Science, Technology & Education, supervising masters and PhD students in science education. In 2019, Dr. Moura earned his doctorate at the Federal Center for Technological Education of Rio de Janeiro with an exchange period at York University. Previously, he also taught chemistry in Brazil’s public school system.
Dr. Moura’s research program focuses on examining the history and nature of science research in science education, as well as fostering justice-centered pedagogies for science education, working mainly with public schools in Brazil. Currently involved in two State of Rio de Janeiro-funded projects, he also received a two-year SFU New Faculty Start-Up grant for “Advancing Socio-political Aspects in History and Nature of Science Research in Science Education,” for which he is principal investigator.
Evident in Dr. Moura’s publications is his commitment to re-thinking historical approaches to the teaching of science. He has contributed chapters to Critical Pedagogies in STEM Education (2023), Rethinking Science Education in the Anthropocene (2022), and Nature of Science for Social Justice (2020) as well as to several collections in Portuguese and numerous conference proceedings. In 2023, he was first author of two articles (including one entitled “Science education in a world in crisis: contributions ‘from the south’ to a defense of a cultural-historical approach in science teaching”) published in Cultural Studies of Science Education. Dr. Moura co-authored other pieces for that journal as well for Science & Education and has authored and co-authored articles for a range of Brazilian journals about issues around science education and curricula. He has served as associate and section editor for Brazilian journals and organized local and international conferences.
Also capturing Dr. Moura’s energy and focus is his forthcoming edited collection of chapters on the theme of “Science Education for Post-Pandemic Worlds: Towards a Socio-Political Turn.” Part of the Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education series, the book will examine the myriad ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has made the complexities, problematics, and inequalities in relationships between science and society even more evident. The collection features contributions of science educators from 14 countries with a diversity of approaches and visions for the future of science education.
Looking forward, Dr. Moura hopes his work will “interrogate and defy de-politicized stances of science education, creating spaces in which the History of Science can be mobilized in ways that foster students' critical perspectives over scientific production.” As he elaborates, "students can understand how science works, but also how diverse types of inequalities are entangled in technoscientific production throughout history or are fueled by certain views of nature and knowledge production, reminiscent of (not only but also) scientism/positivism and effects of coloniality."
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