Is "Learning" Science Enough?--A Cultural Model of Religious Students of Science in an Australian Government School

Autor/inn/en	Ferguson, Joseph Paul; Kameniar, Barbara
Titel	Is "Learning" Science Enough?--A Cultural Model of Religious Students of Science in an Australian Government School
Quelle	In: International Journal of Science Education, 36 (2014) 15, S.2554-2579 (26 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0950-0693
DOI	10.1080/09500693.2014.904060
Schlagwörter	Science Education; Foreign Countries; Interviews; Religion; Evolution; Biology; Beliefs; Urban Schools; Secondary School Students; Questionnaires; Discourse Analysis; Schemata (Cognition); Student Attitudes; Classification; Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung; Ausland; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Biologie; Belief; Glaube; Urban area; Urban areas; School; Schools; Stadtregion; Stadt; Schule; Sekundarschüler; Fragebogen; Diskursanalyse; Cognition; Schema; Kognition; Schülerverhalten; Classification system; Klassifikation; Klassifikationssystem; Australien
Abstract	This paper investigates the cognitive experiences of four religious students studying evolutionary biology in an inner city government secondary school in Melbourne, Australia. The participants in the study were identified using the Religious Background and Behaviours questionnaire (Connors, Tonigan, & Miller, 1996). Participants were interviewed and asked to respond to questions about their cognitive experiences of studying evolutionary biology. Students' responses were analysed using cultural analysis of discourse to construct a cultural model of religious students of science. This cultural model suggests that these students employ a "human schema" and a "non-human schema," which assert that humans are fundamentally different from non-humans in terms of origins and that humans have a transcendental purpose in life. For these students, these maxims seem to be challenged by their belief that evolutionary biology is dictated by metaphysical naturalism. The model suggests that because the existential foundation of these students is challenged, they employ a "believing schema" to classify their religious explanations and a learning schema to classify evolutionary biology. These schemas are then hierarchically arranged with the "learning schema" being made subordinate to the believing schema. Importantly, these students are thus able to maintain their existential foundation while fulfilling the requirements of school science. However, the quality of this "learning" is questionable. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10