Chapter 1
Introduction to
Science and Culture
Reading Assignment
Foreward, Preface, and
Chapter 1 in Teaching
Science to Every Child:
Using Culture as a Starting
Point
Children’s Perceptions of Scientists
• What image comes to your mind when you think of a
scientist?
• Is the following True of your image?
• “Scientists are …
... middle aged white males who wear lab coats and glasses.
Their peculiar facial features are indicative of their generally
deranged behavior. They work indoors, alone, perhaps
underground, surrounded by smoking test tubes and other
pieces of technology. An air of secrecy and danger
surrounds their work.”
• Children, when asked to draw a scientist, often draw a
similar image. You may ask your students to draw a
scientist.
The Scientific Worldview
As a culture, science looks at the world through a particular
viewpoint. (Settlage & Southerland, 2007, p.2).
• There are patterns in the world that we can understand.
• Scientific ideas are subject to change.
• Scientific knowledge is durable & rejects the notion of
absolute truth.
• Science cannot provide the answers to all questions
(opinions and faith).
From Science for All Americans
http://www.project2061.org/publications/sfaa/onlinechap1.htm#sci
Scientific Habits of Mind
The National Science Education Standards (NSES)
Teaching Standard B states that:
Teachers encourage and model the skills of
scientific inquiry and the curiosity, openness to
new ideas and data, and skepticism that
characterizes science.
Project 2061 of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science published, Benchmarks for
Science Literacy (Benchmarks) in 1993.
http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/index.ph
p?chapter=12
Scientific Habits of Mind
Check each habit of mind that you already possess.
___I am curious about the world around me.
___I try to figure out why things happen.
___I try to figure out how things work.
___I sometimes look for problems to solve.
___I have a love for knowledge.
___I have a sense of wonder about the world around me
___I try to withhold making judgments until I have enough
information on which to base them.
___I take a fairly positive approach to failure and am
willing to change my approach when it isn’t working.
___I am a thinker; I think about things and talk about them.
___I don’t allow myself mental blacks about science or
math or technology.
___I try to be honest.
Images of Teaching
Unlike other professions, teaching is the one that the
largest number of people have experienced for the
greatest amount of time.
3 Cultural Myths Among New Teachers That Need to be
Replaced
• Everything depends on the teacher.
• The teacher is the expert.
• Teachers are self-made.
Did you think this way at the beginning of your teaching
career?
Science Teaching for the Purpose of
Learning – A Few Challenges
• Becoming scientifically literate, which means more than just
learning content.
• Teaching science to every child.
• Increasing the legitimacy of science within the curriculum;
which help students
1) apply knowledge in their daily lives,
2) have greater economic and career opportunities,
3) become good citizens, and
4) pass scientific knowledge on to future generations.
What does it mean to be
Scientifically Literate?
According to Science for All Americans, a scientifically
Literate Person….
• Is familiar with the natural world.
• Understands the key concepts and principles of
science
• Employs scientific ways of thinking.
• Recognizes that science is a human enterprise,
and
• Uses scientific knowledge and ways of thinking
to make informed decisions.
Who is “Every Child?”
All students, regardless of age, sex, cultural,
or ethnic background, disabilities,
aspirations, or interest and motivation in
science, should have the opportunity to
attain high levels of scientific literacy.
From the NSES
How can we define Cultural Background?
• “The ever-changing values, traditions, social, and
political relationships, and worldviews shared by a group
of people bound together by a combination of factors
that can include a common history, geographic location,
language, social class, and/or religion. Thus it includes
not only tangibles such as tools, holidays, and artistic
expression but also less tangible manifestations such as
communication style, attitudes, values, and family
relationships.”
Two Components - Objects and Actions
Sonia Nieto
(1992)
Science Education and the “Quiet Crisis”
As Thomas Friedman (2005) explains his recent bestseller,
“The World is Flat,” we are facing a “quiet crisis” involving
the steady erosion of America’s scientific and engineering
base.
• Numbers Gap • Among the science and engineering doctorate holders in the labor force,
44% are age 50 or older (National Science Board, 2006). They are not being
replaced by the numbers needed to continue the U.S.’s lead in the global
economy.
• Ambition Gap –
• Students do not have positive attitudes toward science and are not
interested in pursuing science careers.
• “in China today, Bill Gates is Brittany Spears. In America, Britney Spears is
Britney Spears – and that is our problem.”
• Draw a Scientist Studies
• Education Gap –
• High end research jobs are going abroad because the talent is as or more
educated than American workers. U.S. students are weaker in science and
mathematics than its peer countries.
Countries Participating in Trends in International
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) (in Green)
Approximately a half a million students from 41 countries
were assessed in 4th- and 8th- grade science and mathematics.
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)
A Comparison of Results Between 1995 and 2003
No measurable changes were detected in the average
science scores of U.S. fourth-graders between 1995 and
2003.
U.S. fourth-graders performance was lower in 2003 than
1995 relative to 14 other countries that participated in both
studies.
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
(2005)
NAEP Testing has been occurring for 35 years.
300,000 U.S. students were assessed in science.
Compared to middle and high school students,
younger students are making more progress in
science.
Summary of Fourth and Eighth Grade Results Since 1996
• Most states showed no significant improvement.
• Average achievement scores increased for all fourth grade groups:
white, black, and Hispanic, but only for whites and Hispanics in
eighth grade.
• Achievement gaps have decreased between fourth grade whites
and blacks and whites and Hispanics, but have remained the same
for eighth grade whites, blacks, and Hispanics.
• 68% of the fourth grade students and 59% of the eighth grade
students performed at or above the Basic level.
• Scores in eighth grade physical science declined.
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
Science Achievement for Different Ethnicities
Reasons for the Achievement
Gap in Science
• Deficit mentality
• Culture of science
• Traditional way of teaching science
• The self-fulfilling prophecy
• Actual content of science
No Child Left Behind Act of 2002
Required that states mandatory test reading and
mathematics and develop standards in sciences and
assess students’ achievement of those standards by
2007-2008.
Prior to 2008, nearly half of the nation’s school districts
reported
• 75 fewer minutes of teaching science,
• 140 additional minutes of teaching reading, &
• 87 additional minutes of teaching math.
President Obama’s Agenda for Education
• Reform No Child Left Behind – by increasing funding,
improving assessments and the accountability system.
• Make math and science education a national priority –
recruit math and science graduates to the teaching
profession, ensure that all children have access to a
strong science curriculum at all grade levels.
View Obama’s speech to the National
Academy of Science at
http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20090428.html
The Quiet Crisis and What WE Can Do
“It takes 15 years to create a scientist or an advanced
engineer, starting from when that young man or woman
first get hooked on science and math in elementary
school. Scientists and engineers do not grow on trees.”
Quote from Shirley Ann Jackson
Sally Ride, Science Education, and Climate Change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjwb0KVo0qM
www. sallyridescience.com
The Quiet Crisis – Part 1 of 10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIeLv7rkTVU
The Year of Science
www.yearofscience2009.org
Use Culturally Relevant Pedagogy to
Address the “Quiet Crisis”
• Academic Achievement
Students study and learn at high levels.
• Cultural Competence
Students’ cultures are logically and meaningfully
incorporated into the curriculum.
• Sociopolitical Consciousness
Students understand the way that citizens in a
democratic society need scientific knowledge to
make informed decisions.
Teaching Science from a Cultural
Perspective
• According to the authors, teachers need to serve as a
“tour guide” to help students become comfortable and
proficient in the culture of science.
• Learning about the culture of science “should not be left
to students to figure out for themselves.”
• The habits of mind (curiosity, openness, and skepticism)
is a good starting point.
Perhaps teaching science through culturally relevant
pedagogy may help solve the ambition gap that
Friedman talks about.