Bridging the Gap Between Students’ Cultural Norms and the Cultural Norms of Science: A Self-Study on Students’ Perceptions of Inquiry Activities and Culturally Relevant Lessons

Relevant literature recommends good teaching practices to help students bridge the gap between their personal cultural norms and the cultural norms of secondary science teaching. Some students’ cultural practices encourage developing a strong ability to memorize and students use their strong ability to maintain good grades in their secondary science courses. However, good teaching practices may not effectively enable students to move from rote learning to meaningful knowledge construction. The purpose of the self-study is to critically examine the use of inquiry and culturally relevant lessons to enable students to meaningfully construct knowledge in their secondary physics and chemistry classes. I worked with the 8 students in my Physics 20 class and the 10 students in my Chemistry 30 class for one semester using inquiry laboratory practices, student-developed analogies, advance organizers, student inquiry, and lessons using Muslim scientists and Islamic practices. Data gathering methods included daily exit slips, student journal entries, and end-of-semester interviews as well as interviews with a former student and a student’s mother. Participants in the study confirmed the importance of finding ways to help teachers develop effective ways to bridge the gap between students’ cultural norms and the cultural norms of science. Many students found that developing their own analogies and using inquiry helped them to avoid rote memorization. Some students found that culturally relevant lessons interested them and promoted further inquiry. The results suggest that using inquiry and culturally relevant lessons may be effective teaching strategies to help secondary science teachers in their increasingly culturally diverse classrooms.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Education (MEd)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculm and Instruction

Grantor dc:publisher

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Spock, Pamela Anne

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Wessel, Warren

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Montgomery, Ken
• Hart, Paul

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.82465/5162

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uregina.scholaris.ca:10294/6557