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Permeability of students' worldviews to their school views in a non‐Western developing country
Author(s) -
Waldrip Bruce G.,
Taylor Peter Charles
Publication year - 1999
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(199903)36:3<289::aid-tea4>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - enculturation , curriculum , ethnography , developing country , sociology , pedagogy , relevance (law) , style (visual arts) , western culture , psychology , political science , anthropology , economic growth , geography , economics , archaeology , law
This ethnographic‐interpretive study builds on recent cross‐cultural research by examining the permeability of non‐Western students' worldviews to the official Western school view. The study involved interview and case study techniques with 3 village elders and 15 high school students in a developing South Pacific country, and focused on the relevance of school science to students' future lives. The results suggest strongly that in developing countries (a) the process of enculturation into a Western school view involves an implicit devaluation of students' traditional worldviews which govern their village lifestyles; and (b) a Western school view is of limited viability in relation to traditional values and practices. The results of the study are of significance for non‐Western developing countries which import Western‐style science curricula. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 289–303, 1999