Secondary students' responses to perceptions of the relationship between science and religion: Stances identified from an interview study

Abstract

Abstract It has been argued that learning science may be complicated, and even compromised, when students hold worldviews that may seem at odds with what is presented in science lessons. In particular, in some parts of the world, there has been considerable concern that students from particular religious backgrounds may reject some science teaching if perceived as inconsistent with their faith commitments. In this paper, we report the findings from an interview study that investigated how 12 13–14‐year‐olds from four diverse English schools perceived the relationship between science and religion. In particular, we consider how these students responded to any perceived contradiction and conflict between science and religion. We found a spectrum of stances among this small sample of secondary students. The more extreme positions represented a choice for either science or religion when conflict was perceived. However, other stances were found that sought a synthesis, accommodated inconsistent frameworks, or considered science and religion as noninteracting domains. These alternative stances present a similar range of possibilities to the possible outcomes that have been discussed when students' informal ideas in science are inconsistent with formal science teaching. The implications for further research and for curriculum development and teaching are considered. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 95:1000–1025, 2011

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