Ressources

The aim of this article is to analyze teachers' conceptions of science education in contexts of cultural diversity. In recent years, the presence of migrant students in Chilean education has increased, which has generated a meeting of diverse world views that stress the paradigms of scientific education itself. The article presents a study whose methodological design was of a qualitative nature. 13 interviews were conducted with a strategic sample made up of science teachers from the school system, pedagogy students, and university professors. The results reflect dissimilar ideas about the relationship between science and culture, generating, on the one hand, a kind of invisibility or denial of diversity and, on the other, a recognition of a multiplicity of ways of building knowledge, approaching an intercultural view of science. Stereotyped ideas about the student body and the lack of training to deal with cultural diversity are recognized. The main difficulties are associated with the characteristics of the school system and the hegemonic and monocultural nature of the curriculum. It concludes with recommendations on the need for a postcolonial scientific education and to democratize knowledge, with a focus on student learning that allows the development of critical individuals.