Permeability of students' worldviews to their school views in a non-Western developing country

Waldrip, B.G. and Taylor, P.C. (1999) Permeability of students' worldviews to their school views in a non-Western developing country. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36 (3). pp. 289-303.

Abstract

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.

Publication Type:	Journal Article
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
Copyright:	© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/36872

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