Disrupting hegemonic writing practices in school science: Contesting the right way to write

I challenge the ways a positivist view of science has led to the hegemonic discourse on writing to learn science and highlight contradictions in this discourse. I argue for an enabling pedagogy that draws on critical, feminist, and hegemonic pedagogies, and incorporates the affective, the creative, the critical, the cognitive, and diverse language practices set within sociocultural contexts. I advocate hybrid imaginative genres in secondary school science as one vehicle to disrupt hegemonic pedagogy. I describe the interactions between four teachers' beliefs about science and pedagogy and their use of imaginative writing within an enabling pedagogy. I also challenge the rules of scientific writing by using poetry and the first person, amplifying teachers' voices, and foregrounding my personal history. J Res Sci Teach 35: 345–362, 1998.