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Cultural Aspects of Learning Science William W View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ScholarWorks at WMU Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project Mallinson Institute for Science Education 1997 Cultural Aspects of Learning Science William W. Cobern Western Michigan University, [email protected] Glen Aikenhead University of Saskatchewan Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/science_slcsp Part of the Science and Mathematics Education Commons WMU ScholarWorks Citation Cobern, William W. and Aikenhead, Glen, "Cultural Aspects of Learning Science" (1997). Scientific itL eracy and Cultural Studies Project . 13. http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/science_slcsp/13 This Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the Mallinson Institute for Science Education at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cultural Aspects of Learning Science with students learning science, as will be evident in the (SLCSP121) research reported in this chapter. Despite sociologists' appropriation of ideas from cultural anthropology, the two Paper presented at the 1997 annual meeting of the National disciplines (sociology and anthropology) differ Association for Research in Science Teaching, Chicago, dramatically, even in their definitions of such fundamental March 21-24 concepts as society, culture, and education (Traweek, 1992). For example, from the point of view of a Bill Cobern sociologist, teaching chemistry tends to be seen as Western Michigan University socializing students into a community of practitioners (chemists) who express in their social interactions certain Glen Aikenhead "vestigial values" and puzzle-solving exemplars. On the University of Saskatchewan other hand, an anthropologist tends to view chemistry teaching as enculturation via a rite of passage into behaving according to cultural norms and conventions—especially Over the past few decades our focus on learning the way the group makes sense of the world—held by a science has evolved (Aikenhead, 1996; Cobern, 1993, community of chemists with a shared past and future 1994; Solomon, 1994). The psychological perspectives on (Costa, 1993; Hawkins and Pea, 1987). One consequence the individual learner of earlier years, such as Piaget, to the disparity between sociology and anthropology is the Ausubel, and personal constructivism (West and Pines, realization that the anthropological perspective described in 1985), have expanded to encompass sociological this chapter represents a significant change in our thinking perspectives that contextualize learning in social settings; about students learning science. Unfortunately, terms such for instance, social constructivism, science for specific as "culture" and "socio-cultural" are found in the science social purposes, and situated cognition (Goodnow, 1990; education literature without the author defining what Hennessy, 1993; Layton, Davey and Jenkins, 1986; culture means in the context of the work reported. An O'Loughlin, 1992; Solomon, 1987; Tharp and Gallimore, invocation of terms does not clarify the process of learning 1988). This chapter addresses the next stage in the science. Our chapter seeks to introduce appropriate terms evolution of our focus on learning science—an from cultural anthropology that help conceptualize cultural anthropological perspective that contextualizes learning in aspects of learning science. a cultural milieu. An anthropological viewpoint for science education Certainly psychological and sociological was proposed in 1981 by Maddock when he wrote, approaches are useful in science education, but a more "science and science education are cultural enterprises encompassing perspective from cultural anthropology can which form a part of the wider cultural matrix of society provide fresh insights into familiar problems associated and that educational considerations concerning science 1 must be made in the light of this wider perspective" (p. 10). countries in our cultural view of learning science (e.g., Anthropologist Geertz (1973) metaphorically characterized Cobern, Gibson, & Underwood, 1995), and (2) by cultural enterprises when he suggested that people are recognizing that these students cross cultural borders from animals suspended in a web of significance which they the worlds of their peers, community, and family, into the themselves have spun, and he wrote, "I take culture to be worlds of science and school science (e.g., Costa, 1995). those webs, and the analysis of it is not an experimental We assume that typical science classroom events are cross- science in search of law but an interpretative one in search cultural events for many Western and non-Western of meaning" (p. 5). This chapter represents an students. interpretative way of thinking about students learning The purpose of this chapter is to discuss cultural science. Because learning is about making meaning within aspects of learning science by sketching a cultural a cultural milieu, we must ask ourselves such questions as: perspective for science education, by illustrating Within a cultural milieu of a particular student, what empirically how a student's culture can affect his/her knowledge is important? What knowledge is meaningful? learning science, and by identifying issues for research and and How does scientific knowledge relate to his/her teaching. Accordingly, the chapter is organized into cultural milieu? several main sections: culture and science education, Since Maddock (1981) articulated his subcultures and students, views of nature and learning anthropological perspective for science education, a body science, issues for research, and issues for teaching. of literature on multicultural and cross-cultural science education has accumulated (for example, Allen, 1995; Culture and Science Education Atwater and Riley, 1993; Cobern, in press; George and In cultural anthropology, teaching science is viewed Glasgow, 1988; Hodson, 1993; Jegede and Okebukola, as cultural transmission (Spindler, 1987) and learning 1990, 1991; Knamiller, 1984; Krugly-Smolska, 1995; science as culture acquisition (Wolcott, 1991), where Lawrenz and Gray, 1995; Lewin, 1990; Ogawa, 1986; culture means "an ordered system of meaning and symbols, Ogunniyi et al., 1995; Pomeroy, 1992; Swift, 1992; in terms of which social interaction takes place" (Geertz, Urevbu, 1987). Pomeroy (1994) synthesized this literature 1973, p. 5). We talk about, for example, a Western culture into nine research agendas, described later in this chapter. or an Oriental culture because members of these groups All these investigations dealt with students who studied in share, in general, a system of meaning and symbols for the non-Western countries or in indigenous societies, or with purpose of social interaction. We use Geertz's definition of students who comprised minority groups within Western culture in our chapter. countries, groups under represented in the professions of Other definitions of culture have guided research in science and technology. In our chapter we broaden this science education; for example, Banks (1988), Bullivant anthropological perspective for science education in two (1981), Ingle and Turner (1981), Jordan (1985), Leavitt ways: (1) by including Western students in industrialized (1995), Phelan, Davidson and Cao (1991), Samovar, Porter 2 and Jain (1981), and Tharp (1989). From these sources one environment. Each identifiable subgroup is composed of could compose the following list of attributes of culture: people who generally embrace a defining system of communication (psycho and sociolinguistic), social meaning and symbols, in terms of which social interaction structures (authority, participant interactions, etc.), skills takes place. In short, each subgroup shares a culture, (psycho-motor and cognitive), customs, norms, attitudes, which we designate as "subculture" to convey its identity values, beliefs, expectations, cognition, conventional with a subgroup. One can talk about, for example, the actions, material artifacts, technological know-how, and subculture of females, the subculture of our peers, the worldview. In various studies reported in the literature, subculture of a particular science classroom, and the different attributes of culture have been selected to focus on subculture of science. a particular interest in multicultural or cross-cultural Science itself is a subculture of Western or Euro- science education (Baker and Taylor, 1995; Barba, 1993; American culture (Dart, 1972; Horton, 1994; Ogunniyi, George, 1992; Jegede, 1995; Lee, Fradd and Sutman, 1995; 1986; Pickering, 1992), and so "Western science" can also MacIvor, 1995; McKinley et al., 1992; Rakow and be called "subculture science." Scientists share a well Bermudez, 1993; Wilson, 1981). For instance, Maddock defined system of meaning and symbols, in terms of which (1981, p. 20) listed "beliefs, attitudes, technologies, social interaction takes place. Because science tends to be languages, leadership and authority structures;" Ogawa a Western cultural icon of prestige, power, and progress (1986) addressed a culture's view of humans, its view of (Adas, 1989), Western science can often permeate the nature, and its way of thinking; while Aikenhead (1996) culture of those who engage it with remarkable ease. conceptualized
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