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Voices from the bridge: Worldview conflicts of Kickapoo students of science
Author(s) -
Allen Nancy J.,
Crawley Frank E.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2736(199802)35:2<111::aid-tea3>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - psychology , science education , mathematics education , pedagogy , nature of science , perspective (graphical) , qualitative research , sociology , social science , artificial intelligence , computer science
The purpose of this study was to compare the worldview of Native American students of the Traditional Kickapoo Band with the worldview encountered in the science classroom. The qualitative study investigated the worldview expressed in science instruction by conducting periodic observations in two classrooms over an 18‐month period, teacher interviews, and text evaluations. StudentsÕ worldviews were investigated during individual and group interviews, classroom observations, science activities, and social interaction. Twenty‐eight Kickapoo students, two teachers, and eight nonteaching members of the community participated in the study. Adult members of the Kickapoo Band were interviewed and asked to reflect on the educational and cultural norms of the students. A variable‐oriented analysis revealed differences in epistemology, preferred methods of teaching/learning, values, spatial/temporal orientation, cultural rules for behavior, and perspective of the place of humans in the natural world. The study revealed significant worldview differences, none of which would prevent Kickapoo students from being full participants in the scientific community, but many of which may be preventing them from being successful in the science classroom. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 111–132, 1998.