Page 255 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

Chapter 18
A Case Study of David, a Native Hawaiian
Science Teacher: Cultural Historical Activity

Theory and Implications for Teacher Education

Pauline W.U. Chinn and David D. Maika‘i Hana‘ike

Introduction

I use my indigenous status to promote a positive role model for my students. I allow my
role as a teacher to mix with my strong image of myself as a kanaka maoli and I share that
blending with my students. (David D. Maika‘i Hana‘ike)
For school-aged children from marginalized groups, cultural differences including
language, ethnicity, class, and religion increase the distance between their cultural
historical worlds and the cultural historical world of mainstream instruction and
assessment. In the USA, studies of mathematics and science teaching suggest that
these students are doubly disadvantaged. Stigler and Hiebert’s (1999) book,
The Teaching Gap, compared Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS) performance of US mathematics and science students to students in 40
nations and analyzed videotapes of classroom mathematics instruction in the USA,
Japan, and Germany. Findings of significant differences in teaching across cultures but
small differences within cultures led them to conclude that teaching is a cultural activity
and that, despite US teachers agreeing with reform efforts, there was little evidence
of change. They concluded: “Our students are (sic) being shortchanged. They could be
learning much more and much more deeply than they are now” (p. 5).
Indigenous people are especially ill-served by the dominant culture of teaching
in the USA. Tharp’s (1989) research in Native Hawaiian and Navajo classrooms
identified ineffective instruction as contributing to academic underperformance of
indigenous students:
Not only language but all instruction should be contextualized in the child’s experience, previ-
ous knowledge, and schemata (p. 355). … In the absence of school/cultural compatibilities,
the relationship between teacher and child becomes the ground for struggle … absorb[ing] all
of the energy that should be directed toward learning academic skills. (p. 356)

P. W. U. Chinn
University of Hawai’i-Manoa
D.D.M. Hana‘ike
Hawai’i State Department of Education

D.J. Tippins et al. (eds.), Cultural Studies and Environmentalism, 229
Cultural Studies of Science Education, Vol. 3, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3929-3_18,
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010