EFFECTS OF TRADITIONAL COSMOLOGY ON SCIENCE EDUCATION

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When we consider rationale of science education in the near-future, an important issue is that how the relation of scientific cosmology, which is constructed by the scientific community, and traditional cosmology, which is held by lay people in their lifeworld, should be. The purpose of the project is to compare how the conflict of the two cosmologies appears and how it be dealt with in the science education programs for Japanese, African, Middle Eastern, and First Nation's people, who received western modern science as a foreign culture, and come to mutual understanding of the situation. Through the process, the ultimate goal of the project is to establish a new rationale of science education, which is fit to the coming multiculturally co-existent society. The project aimed at clarifying how traditional cosmology of a certain people affects the enterprise called "Science Education" in the society concerned. For that purpose, we examined, at first, several fundamental issues, definitions of science, relationship between indigenous science and western science, natural philosophy and science, worldview, traditional cosmology and rationality, structural linguistics, negativity, etc. Then, the discussion proceeded to the issues relevant to teaching and learning science, that is, collateral learning, border-crossing, co-participation, symbolic violence, cultural fit and interaction, Fatima's rule, etc. The process was performed firstly by brainstorming among the members for about 3 months through the Listserve , TRACOS-L,then by one week meeting at Mito in September 23-27,1996, which is followed the synthesis process, again by the discussion through the Listserve. One of the results of synthesis was compiled by Jegede, Aikenhead, and Cobern as the Mito Document on Research Agenda under the title, "Cultural Studies in Science Education. "