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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project Mallinson Institute for Science Education 1991 World View Theory and Science Education Research William W. Cobern Western Michigan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/science_slcsp Part of the Science and Mathematics Education Commons WMU ScholarWorks Citation Cobern, William W., "World View Theory and Science Education Research" (1991). Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project. 44. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/science_slcsp/44 This Book 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 wmu- [email protected]. NARST MONOGRAPH, Number Three, 1991 World View Theory and Science Education Research William W. Cobern NARST MONOGRAPH, Number Three, 1991 World View Theory and Science Education Research William W. Cobern Faculty of Education and Human Services Arizona State University West Phoenix, Arizona Fides Intellectual Quarens The National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) is a professional organization devoted to promoting and disseminating science education research. Copyright 1991, National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506. Table of Contents Editor's Preface Introduction 1 The Assumptions of Misconception Research 2 ACM: The Alternative Conceptions Movement 4 Commonsense and World View 5 Critical Assumptions and Terminology 12 World View by Definition ... 14 Lebenswelt, Weltbild, and Weltanschauung 14 Defining the Concept of World View 18 The Formation of a World View 21 The Social Construction of Knowledge 23 Multiple Realities 25 World View Theory 30 World View in the Science Education Research Literature 30 The Root Metaphor Approach to World View Studies 33 Anthropological World View Studies 36 The Kearney Model of World View 38 Presuppositions are More than Beliefs 40 Logico-Structuralism 42 Self and NonSelf 43 Classification, Relationship, Causality 46 Space and Time 56 Science, Science Education and World View 63 The Growth of Science 64 The Scientific World View7 67 Scientifically Compatible World Views 72 Confronting Variation 75 World View as an Educational Goal 79 World View and Science Education Research 88 Application to Misconception Research 89 Reinterpreting Misconception Data 91 Validity of the Logico-Structural Model for Science Education Research 96 A Research Agenda 97 The Methodology of World View Research 105 Concluding Remarks 113 References 117 List of Figures 1. Gowin's Knowledge Vee: Science and Commonsense 8 2. Science Theory, Commonsense Theory and World View 9 3. The Dialectical Development and Evolution of a World View 22 4. Kearney's Logico-Structural World View Model 43 5. Examples of Classifications within the NonSelf 45 6. The Attributes, Real and Unreal 47 7. Maps Drawn by Nepalese and American Students 58 8. Frequency of Scientifically Oriented Thinking within Two World Views 67 9. Frequency of Americans and Indians on a Science World View Scale 73 10. Frequency of Americans and Indians on an Eastern World View Scale 74 11. Contextual Factors Excluding Science 84 12. Contextual Factors Including Science 85 13. Categorizing the NonSelf 92 14. Root Analysis of an Alleged Misconception 95 15. Scenario with Fictitious Explanations 110 Editor's Preface This monograph is timely for the membership of NARST. As science educators probe teaching and learning in an endeavor to make sense of learning in classrooms, there is a need for theoretical frameworks to enable new questions to be posed and a correspondingly fresh set of responses to be obtained. World view is a framework that can be applied to research on teaching and learning science and fits well with the trend towards studies that are interpretive in nature. The number of science education researchers using ethnographic techniques in science education research is increasing steadily and theories and methods that emanate from cultural anthropology are appropriate tools in efforts to unravel the social structure of science classrooms. Cobern's review is a scholarly treatment which highlights many issues in science education that have been taken for granted. In an important sense Cobern has initiated a much needed debate that should stimulate the thinking of the science education research community. For example, Cobern's world view raises questions about alternative frameworks and conceptual change, arguably one of the most researched areas in science education in recent years. Epistemological issues are also considered in a thoughtful manner, and the world view framework provides those who have been involved with research on metaphors and beliefs a framework in which to consider and expand their work. William Cobern is to be commended for his efforts to produce the third NARST monograph. Unlike the first two monographs, the concept of world view will be new to many NARST members, and as a consequence, should be essential reading for those with long histories in conducting research on science teaching and learning and for neophytes embarking on their first study in science education. Evidence of the impact of this monograph will be an increasing number of studies that utilize world view as an interpretive framework for their studies of science teaching and learning. Kenneth Tobin Chair, Publications Committee CHAPTER 1 Introduction I had the privilege of teaching at the University of Sokoto, Nigeria, from 1979 to 1983. In my science education courses I routinely presented my students with a moral dilemma, one that I continue to use with my American students. I asked them to imagine the following scenario: You are out on a lake in a boat with a spouse, a parent, and young son or daughter. Of the four in the boat you are the only one who can swim and the boat has no life preservers. Suddenly the weather turns bad. The boat flounders and all are cast into the water. You quickly realize that with the distance to shore you have hope of saving only one of your passengers, your spouse, your parent, or your child. Which one will you save? It is a difficult decision but most of my Nigerian students came to the same answer. They would save the parent. And my American students? They too generally agreed on one answer, but it was to save the child. What is interesting is the utter astonishment each group feels at hearing the other group's response. My what different ways we have of seeing the world! .ri/^ _ r,K The Assumptions of Misconception Research Some of the most interesting work currently being done in science education research is with what at. first glance appears to be scientifically misconceived ideas about the causes and mechanisms of natural phenomena. This research which is related to a larger body of research on students' conceptual understanding (Pines & West, 1986), has come to be known more simply as misconception research. There are, however, numerous other terms used to denote basically the same phenomenon, e.g., primitive science, naive theories, alternative frameworks (Gauld, 1987). This type of research can be dated as early as the sixties (see Kuethe, 1963; Boyd, 1966); but it came into its own with the 1983 and 1987 international symposia on misconception research in science and mathematics education held at Cornell University (Helm & Novak; Novak). Researchers have demonstrated that students do not come into the science classroom with minds tabula rasa. Students bring to class ideas and values about the natural world that they have formulated based on their own socio-cultural environment including previous educational experiences (Hawkins, 1985; Morrison, 1985; Gunstone, 1988). As science, some of these ideas are simply incorrect, others are quite close if not essentially correct. Some students come into class already holding a high view of science, i.e., they like science and they think it is important. Others come with value and belief systems that will readily incorporate a high view of science given the proper circumstances. Others are prepared to resist. The objective of misconception research is, to enable us to learn more about the content of the beliefs and ideas students bring to formal instruction in the sciences. The rationale lying behind much of this work is that by coming to better understand these views we will gain more insight into certain intellectual difficulties students encounter in the course of their efforts to learn science. (Hills 1989, p. 156) In recent years science educators have studied the content of student ideas concerning many physical phenomena - a veritable cottage industry as Susan Carey (1986) has commented. To date misconception research, particularly in the United States, has largely been limited to elucidating misconceptions in various science subject areas. Even where more emphasis has been placed on understanding the student's point of view (e.g., UK and Australia) the research still culminates with suggestions for developing instructional strategies for replacing misconceptions with accurate scientific understanding. As G.L.C. Hills states, the researchers generally believe "that youngsters' untutored frameworks and methods stand in need of repair or replacement" (1989, p. 182). Regardless
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