is this a mechanic or an organic world? a case study on how 9th grade students see the world

8/4/2019 Is this a mechanic or an organic World? A case study on how 9th grade students see the world.

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IS THIS A MECHANIC OR AN ORGANIC WORLD?

A CASE STUDY ON HOW 9TH

GRADE STUDENTS SEE THE WORLD

O. Figueiredo1

Escola Secundria de Campo Maior

M. Csar1 Universidade de Lisboa, Centro de Investigao em Educao da Faculdadede Cincias

Introduction

At the turn of this new century, humankind faces challenges on a global scale

that can compromise the survival of the entire species. Wars in the Middle East,

starvation in many underdeveloped countries, feeble investment in the development ofnon-polluting technologies, among other problems, are all symptoms of the same

malady our attitude towards our planet: not looking at her as a living organism that

must be respected and cared for, but as a mere resource to be brutally explored and

mistreated, apparently without causing real damage.A paradigm shift is absolutely essential and can only be achieved by throwing

out our anthropocentric view of the world, shifting to a biocentric paradigm inspired bya deep ecological view of the world. To achieve the desired shift, humankind has to

understand that the world is not mechanical but organic, and with limited resources. Webelieve that school has a major role in this paradigm shift. Students attitudes towards

the global ecosystem must chang.September 2002 began the implementation of a curriculum reform in Portuguese

compulsory schooling which comprises nine grades (from ages 6 to 15, if students never

fail), divided in three cycles of four, two and three years. One of the four themes of the

national curriculum of Physical and Natural Sciences is called Sustainability on Earth.Some of the sustainability-related competences that this document claims to be

important to develop in students are:Acknowledging humankinds needs of appropriation of the resources that

exist on earth in order to transform and use them;Acknowledging the role of Science and Technology in the transformation

and utilization of the existing resources;

Acknowledging that human intervention on Earth affects individuals, society

and the environment and raises questions of a social and ethical nature;Understanding the consequences that the utilization of the existing resources

has for individuals, for society and for the environment;

Understanding the importance of scientific and technological knowledge in

the explanation and resolution of situations that contribute to the

sustainability of life on Earth (CNEB, 2001, p. 140).

Mode of Inquiry

The main aim of this exploratory study is to understand students endorsementof the New Ecological Paradigm using Dunlap, van Liere, Mertig, and Jones (2000)

questionnaire. The participants are 9th

grade students (n=107) from a school in Northern

Lisbon. Ages vary between 14 and 16. The criterion for this choice is that according to

the reform implemented in compulsory education, students attended two disciplines

1 We thank Sofia Coelho who helped us improving the English version.


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during the 8th grade - Natural Sciences and Physical and Chemical Sciences - with a

common general theme, Sustainability on Earth, whose main goal is to develop thecompetences listed above.

This case study is part of a wider project aiming to understand the dialectic

relations between Science and teachers conceptions of Sustainable Development, andhow Science and Sustainability must be approached in the classroom. Concerning thenature of the study we decided to use an interpretative approach, inspired in

ethnographic methods. Besides the questionnaires answered by the students whose

results are presented in this paper, we also used audio-recorded teachers interviews as

data collection instruments, and participant observation of these classes.The questionnaire used was the 2

ndversion of a Likert scale published by Dunlap

and collaborators (2000), and adapted to the Portuguese population by Lima and Guerra

(2004). This scale has four levels (1 to 4) of agreement/disagreement, measuring the

participants endorsement regarding two ways of seeing the world and humankindsrole: the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP), related to a modern, anthropocentric and

mechanical view of the world, that conceives humankind as a superior species with theright to rule and use the planet; and a biocentric and organic paradigm, called New

Ecological Paradigm (NEP), which conceives humankind as just one species amongothers living on this planet. Students answered this questionnaire individually at the

beginning of the school year, although in a collective administration procedure, carriedout by the researcher, during a class. Their answers were submitted to descriptive

statistical treatment using EXCEL.The NEP scale consists of 15 questions grouped in five items of three questions,

each related to different aspects of Sustainable Development. Item number 1 is calledLimits to growth and concerns the perceptions students have of the limited capacity of

Earth to sustain the growing human population. Item number 2 isAntianthropocentrism

measuring students perceptions of the role that humankind is playing on Earth - if it is

seen as a special species that has the right to rule the world or just as any other speciesthat must show respect towards the natural environment, as well as towards other

species. Item number 3 is known as Balance of nature and concerns students

perceptions of the fragile natural equilibrium in our planet. Item number 4, called

Exemptionalism, is about the way students perceive humankind: as a species just likeany other that is vulnerable to the laws of nature; or as a species that has special powers

(e.g., reasoning), and can easily escape from natural constrictions. The last item, number

5, Ecocrisis, measures students opinions about a possible global ecological crisis that

humankind may have to face in the near future.The answers were re-codified so that 1 corresponds to a strong NEP

endorsement and 4 to a strong DSP endorsement. The NEP index was calculated for

each category as well as globally. In the first case, it was calculated by averaging thethree questions corresponding to each category and in the second case by averaging allfifteen questions.

For example, in a questionnaire where category 1, that includes the questions: 1 We are approaching the limit of the number of people Earth can support; 6 Earth

has plenty of natural resources if we just learn how to develop them and 11 Earth is

like a spaceship with very limited room and resources, had the answers 2, 1 and 3,

respectively, the NEP index is calculated in the following way: index=[2+(4-1)+3]/3=2.(6), which shows a moderate DSP endorsement in this category. Notice that

the answer to question number 6 was re-codified in order to make 1 correspond to a

strong NEP endorsement and 4 to a strong DSP endorsement.


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Findings

Table 1 shows the NEP/DSP index calculated as explained above.

Table 1 Response percentages on the questionnaires five items

NEP/DSP indexNEP

strongNEP

moderateDSP

moderateDSP

strong1.9 33.0 59.4 5.7

1 Limits to growth34.9 65.1

29.2 67.0 3.8 02 Antianthropocentrism

96.2 3.8

38.7 55.6 5.7 03 Balance of nature

94.3 5.7

4.7 70.7 23.6 0.94 Exemptionalism

75.4 24.5

16.8 76.6 6.6 05 Ecocrisis

93.4 6.62.8 94.4 2.8 ---

Global97.2 2.8

Although practically all the students (97.2%) are situated in the NEP, there are a

small number of strong NEP positions. Item Limits to growth is the one with more

students endorsing DSP (64.5%) followed, though with a significant difference, by

Exemptionalism with 24.5% of students endorsing DSP. This empirical evidence isproblematic as these two items are important aspects of Sustainable Development as

mentioned in the Theoretical Background. Items with highest percentages of students

showing they strongly endorse the NEP are numbers 2 and 4 (29.2% and 38.7%,

respectively). The lowest isExemptionalism with 4.7%.

Implications

The results raise certain issues. It is clear that the items more associated to the

NEP endorsement are those often referred to by the media. Although the demographic

explosion is sometimes focussed on, usually it is not as explored as the other issues (the

extinction of species, the fragile equilibrium of ecosystems, or the ecological crisisrelated to global warming problems). The fragility of natural ecosystems is a common

theme and the item Balance of nature has the highest percentage of strong NEPendorsements. As for Exemptionalism this point concerns the traditional conception of

Science as a problem solver, capable of helping humankind in almost every need. Thisfinding is related to the deformed conceptions of Science so often also transmitted by

teachers. Thus, these findings led us to ask: To what extent are school contributions tothe students perspectives on Sustainable Development ethically and scientifically

relevant? Are they less journalistic than those exposed in the media?

Although the ecological aspects of Sustainable Development seem to be related

to the organic paradigm there is a lot of work to be done regarding its social andepistemological aspects.

References

Dunlap, E., Van Liere, K., Mertig, A., & Jones, R. (2000), Measuring endorsement of an ecological

worldview: A revised NEP scale.Journal of Social Issues,56(3), 425-442.


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Lima, A. V., & Guerra, J. (2004), Degradao ambiental, representaes e novos valores ecolgicos. In J.

F. Almeida (Ed.), Os portugueses e o ambiente (pp. 7-64). Lisboa: Celta.

Ministrio da Educao (2001). Currculo nacional do ensino bsico. Lisboa: Departamento do Ensino

Bsico.

is this a mechanic or an organic world? a case study on how 9th grade students see the world

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