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Outsider on the Inside: A Cultural Analysis of the Development of the Scientific Academic Culture
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Authors
Covert, Joseph Stephen
Issue Date
2017-05-11
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Culture , Ethnography , Autoethnography , Science Education
Alternative Title
Abstract
This dissertation examines the development of awareness among learners and
teachers about the cultural values associated with science. Like any human endeavor, the discipline of science has a unique set of cultural values that are foundationally important to understanding the way in which humans engage in the scientific endeavor. The current study began as an ethnographic study focused on the impact of a single-sex schooling initiative, but morphed into a larger study investigating the origin of awareness of the cultural values of science as an academic discipline. Initial ethnographic observations of students in single-sex classrooms highlighted the unique approaches to science learning that occurred spontaneously among students in all-boy versus all-girl classrooms. These changes were durable and evident across classrooms within a school year, as well as across school years with different groups of students. The larger question of how these approaches to learning emerged, with specific emphasis on the role played by teachers in introducing the students to their approaches to science learning that emerged from my classrooms observations became of the focus on my dissertation research. To address the question about the sources of academic cultural knowledge, a group of classroom teachers were studied, looking for signs of cultural affiliation to science. This investigation of teachers indicated a clear lack of cultural knowledge about science among the teachers, raising questions about the efficacy of teacher preparation programs. My dissertation research concluded with an autoethnographic analysis of the researchers'own journey into science and teaching. Overall, the findings of my dissertation resulted in suggested modifications to the way that teachers are prepared to become science
teachers.