Page 451 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

426 P. Chigeza and H. Whitehouse

Table 2 Categories of TSI Students Participating in Learning Science
Main Structural Features of
Percentage of Observed Participation in
Categories Number of Students Study Group (%) Learning Science
1 5 11 Independent students who
attempted to establish
their own narratives
2 19 43 Did not display confidence
in their ability to learn
independently
3 20 45 Were unable to adequately
represent formal
understandings of concepts
of energy and force

attempted to establish their own narratives and compared their thinking with established
scientific knowledge. They used scientific terminology accurately, and both under-
stood and employed instructional words competently. Each of these five students,
four boys and one girl was identified as a competent speaker of English and among
the nine students in Category A. Philemon observed that four girls who were origi-
nally classified as Category A for employing formal science terminology, slipped
into Category 2 because they did not consider themselves active generators of
scientific knowledge. A total of nineteen students (43%) were categorised as
Category 2. These were students who did not display confidence in their ability to
learn independently and were careful to seek confirmation from Philemon. They
were less willing to use formal science terminology unless explicitly encouraged to
do so. Students in the third participatory category – Category 3 are the same 20
students (45% of the study group) from Category C who were shy about using
scientific terminology – relied on fellow students to provide explanations in Creole
and were unable to adequately represent formal understandings of concepts of
energy and force (Table 2).
When we combine the first analysis (categories A, B and C) with the second
analysis (categories 1, 2 and 3), the resulting four combination categories, A1, A2,
B2 and C3 indicate a possible relationship between students’ ability to use English
fluently and their willingness to actively participate in science learning (Table 3).
This simple table of results suggests that if Torres Strait Islander students bring
English language capital to the classroom, they are more willing and able to enact
agency as independent learners. Our key concern is that only five students in this
study (11% of total) possessed the cultural capital to participate in the classroom as
competent and confident learners of science with ability to employ technical and
abstract terms and mathematical symbols productively. The four boys and one girl
in Category A were active constructors of scientific knowledge because they spoke
and wrote English with facility. The Queensland Studies Authority calls scientific
processes, “Ways of Working” and formal curriculum statements require that
students are to identify problems and issues; plan investigations; research and analyse
data; evaluate data, information and evidence; select and use scientific equipment