Valuing difference in students’ culture and experience in school science lessons

Abstract

Susan Harper writes about how a cross-cultural learning community can be formed where people from different cultures are not simply assimilated into a school science community but are seen and heard. This makes learning reciprocal and meaningful for both recent refugees and the dominant population. Although maybe not refugees, students from poorer backgrounds in many countries are less likely to choose science at a post-compulsory level. This article discusses some of the potential barriers that are faced by many of these students, that prevent them from participating in school science. It suggests how people involved in school science might address these issues to allow a smoother cultural border crossing between the students' cultures and school science culture by reducing the significance of the crossing.Keywords Inclusion Á Cultural capital Á Identity Á Border crossing Á Relevance In her article Keystone characteristics that support cultural resilience in Karen refugee parents, Susan Harper demonstrates the importance of a cross-cultural learning community, that includes parents, children and schools, for effective and embodied science learning for the whole school and wider community. This leads to a climate of shared learning where Karen culture is not assimilated into the dominant culture of (school) science but is articulated and heard, making learning reciprocal, and therefore meaningful

The influence of indigenous knowledge on chemistry metacognition

“…There are some common characteristics between indigenous chemistry and western chemistry knowledge such as being rational, ideological, communal and empirical (Aikenhead and Jegede, 1999). These similarities were confirmed by who saw indigenous chemistry knowledge and western chemistry knowledge both having characteristics such as; being able to give explanations of complex systems, basing on observations, verifying through repetition, seeking the understanding of the of physical world and changing of the body of knowledge over time (Baker, Rayner, and Wolowic, 2011). This allows indigenous chemistry knowledge and western chemistry knowledge to complement each other in terms of chemistry knowledge and skills construction and transmission.…”

Sosyal Bi̇lgi̇ler Öğretmenleri̇ Perspekti̇fi̇nden Mülteci̇ Öğrenci̇ler

“…İki unsurun birbiri ile ilişkisi, dil yetersizliğinden dolayı kısa cevaplar verme, konuşmak yerine kendi kültürüne ait birtakım beden dili özelliklerini kullanma gibi, öğretmenin öğrenciyi yanlış değerlendirmesine neden olacak birtakım davranışlar şeklinde görülebilir (Cheng, 1998). Nitekim, anadil de dahil olmak üzere kendi kimlik özelliklerini yaşatmak için mücadele eden, içinde bulundukları toplumun sahip olduğu maddi ve manevi değerleri kabullenmekte zorluk çeken ya da bunu reddeden ailelerin çocuklarında kültürel açıdan uyumsuzlukların gün yüzüne çıkması daha yüksek bir olasıdır (Banner, 2016). Burada öğretmene büyük iş düşmektedir.…”

The influence of indigenous knowledge on chemistry metacognition

“…Emphasis must be on the importance and benefits of identifying similarities between indigenous Chemistry and western Chemistry ways of knowledge construction and transmission to create an understanding of the natural world, which is more encompassing ( Tsuji and Ho, 2002 ). It is crucial to have a blending of indigenous Chemistry knowledge and western Chemistry knowledge learning, which leads to an environment of shared learning whereby indigenous Chemistry knowledge is not assimilated by the dominant western Chemistry knowledge, but is thoroughly articulated and clearly heard, resulting in learning being reciprocal and making Chemistry learning meaningful to local Chemistry learners ( Banner, 2016 ).…”