Page 434 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

Chapter 34
Responding to Glocalisation
and Foundationalism in Science and Math

Dawn Sutherland and Denise Henning

Dear Denise,
I just returned from Thailand. It was an interesting experience teaching a science
methods course for Canadian pre-service teachers completing their education
degree overseas. Something interesting happened while I was there. As part of the
course, my students were required to create a portfolio of cultural and local exam-
ples from Thai culture that would help create early and middle years’ science
experiences that were more locally relevant. When I explained the assignment,
students just stared at me, and asked, “why would we want to do that?” You see,
my Canadian students realized very quickly that one of the purposes behind Thai
students attending English schools in Thailand is to become more aware of
eurowestern culture. So, both my past and recent experiences help me relate to Drs.
Luitel and Taylor’s chapter on the impact a non-critical presentation of global
(really eurowestern) education has on non-eurowestern educational systems.
Do you remember when we first met? I felt I had to work so hard to earn your
trust as a non-Aboriginal researcher in Indigenous science education. We had to have
many conversations and meetings to talk about what Indigenous science education
is and how important personal stories and local community are to learning. It was
only after several meetings that we realized we were both very grounded in our own
culture and localities, yet able to respectfully discuss Aboriginal issues from our
unique viewpoints and examine them from a broader perspective. Perhaps this is
what Luitel and Taylor are talking about when describing glocalisation, that it is the
ability to see the interplay of dominant agendas in your own worldview, a worldview
that is a result of local and global influences, and the worldview of others.
While reading Luitel and Taylor’s chapter, I reflected on the feasibility of creat-
ing a contextualized and inclusive mathematics and science teacher education
program. I would have liked to see some examples of the teacher education pro-
gram that the authors claim addresses glocalisation and foundationalism. I can see

D. Sutherland
University of Winnipeg
D. Henning
University College of the North

D.J. Tippins et al. (eds.), Cultural Studies and Environmentalism, 409
Cultural Studies of Science Education Vol. 3, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3929-3_34,
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010