| Abstract: | I use autobiographical narratives to describe and analyse my involvement in peer review activities in science education and to illustrate their historical, social and cultural constitution. I explore ways in which peer review and science education have interrelated in 30-plus years in which I have been a science educator. I employ cultural sociology and activity theory to identify patterns of coherence and coexisting contradictions that create tensions able to catalyse improvements in science education. I argue that early career science educators need a gradual induction into peer review activities, preferably increasing their effectiveness by coparticipating with more experienced colleagues. Also, I critically examine my roles as a peer reviewer, within various contexts that include being an editor of journals and a book series, an examiner of dissertations and an advisor of graduate students, and as a reviewer of applications for tenure and promotion. In so doing I probe power relationships between the reviewer and the reviewed and explore the possibility that peer review is hegemonic. Finally, I present strategies for science educators to reach a collective understanding of how to enact peer review equitably. |
