Student border crossings between local cultures and classroom science: The transition of urban and provincial students in Colombia

The purpose of this study was to document the student reactions and degrees of harmonization between his/her personal worldviews and that of school science. 250 provincial and urban students in western Colombia participated by responding to a survey, and two questionnaires. 18 of those students participated in a telephone interview regarding their views about home, school science, nature and their relationships with others. An anthropological approach to education allowed for case descriptions in both urban and provincial settings. This research argues that these school communities do little in aiding the student to cross the boundaries that separate their personal worlds from those of school and school science. Educational practices are implemented under the influence of internal and external forces that limit the decision making opportunities available to school administrators and teachers, and leave no room for a mutual discourse [science and student's own perspectives] that values the student as a person. In the investigation, it was observed that although several aspects, including religion, playa major role in the inside and outside school scenarios. On the contrary, students are not distracted as they move from one setting to another, and religious beliefs tend to support their adaptive behaviors. The transitions are characterized as 'apparent' due to impracticability, and are for the most part, aimed at generating ephemeral outcomes that do not efficiently support future life endeavors. Other findings that support this idea are the students' conceptualizations of nature. The compartmentalization of knowledge is not only evident as an 'avoiding strategy' in the classroom, but also as a mechanism to differently address the natural world in everyday experiences and the one portrayed by a Westernized science instruction. This duality of behavior was evidenced in terms of the academic life of the participating students as well as in particular aspects of their lives (i.e., use of home-made medicines).