Technoscience as heritage in the classroom

The heritage of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is not easily explained. There is a real temptation to blackbox the technology in itself. The History of Technology division is exploring ways to keep the box open and translate the workings of the technology and the explanations of the scientists. A study of the process of emergence, spread, impact and perhaps closure of the technology Flow Injection Analysis has been undertaken. It a story of multiplicity and it takes many twists and turns and includes a lot of difficult science. We decided to find a way to bring this story into the high-school classroom. The FIA technology is explained by letting the students explore and use a specific FIA machine in a virtual lab. We also wanted to introduce the findings in our historical exploration of FIA. This is done by telling the student several different narratives relating to FIA or other historical technoscience developments. The students work through one or more scenarios and make decisions and debate. Our theory was, that they would use some of the apparatus they have gained from the narratives in the decision making process. In this talk I will revise the outcomes of this process.