In formal learning spaces, students must navigate making meaning of both new knowledge and potentially new worldviews. In this qualitative grounded theory study, we examined how adult Buddhist monastic students learned about and described the origin of biodiversity in an introductory biology course. The study was conducted at a Tibetan settlement…

The political nature of socioscientific controversies becomes starkly apparent in countries of the Global South where science and technology are embedded in societies characterized by pervasive structural inequalities which, in part, were created by the Global North. This article presents empirical work from the standpoint of a critical science…

Several educators have emphasized that students need to understand science as a human endeavor that is not value free. In the exploratory study reported here, we investigated how doctoral students of biology understand the intersection of values and science in the context of genetic determinism. Deterministic research claims have been critiqued…

Although there has been considerable focus on the underrepresentation of minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and the need for science instruction that fosters diversity, much of the associated effort has focused on the goal of diversity and tended to assume that science and science learning are…

Analyzes the system and policy of science education in India. Describes its academic environment profiles, its teachers and students, and explains its curricula, examination systems, and research and development activities. (ML)

Examines trends in teachers' beliefs about scientists and the nature of science. Discusses teachers' questionnaire responses on the following qualities of scientists: minimum educational qualifications; creativity; temperament; stereotyped image; and personal beliefs about indigenous systems of medicine and astrology. (Contains 63 references.)…

Describes the structure of the observatory built in India in 1710 and shows the relationship of the scientific and geometric principles involved. (AL)

Students studying in government-run schools in rural India possess much experiential knowledge of the world around them. This paper presents a narrative account of an ethnographic exploration of such students as they attempted to learn about electricity in an eighth-grade classroom in a government-run school in a village in India. The paper shows…

Elementary and middle school teachers in urban schools in India provided responses to the science efficacy instrument (STEBI-A). These responses were evaluated using Rasch analysis and parametric tests. Rasch fit statistics and person-item maps were evaluated. It was found that the instrument worked well for the two groups of teachers, but the…