Borders/Border Crossing

Border crossing provides a lens for analyzing science learning as cultural acquisition and science teaching as cultural transmission. Thus, science is deemed as culture rather than absolute truth. The generic construction of border crossing assumes the existence of borders between two (or more) distinguishable cultures/subcultures that, to a varying degree, represent obstacles for individuals to cross. The notion of border crossing has been used widely in science education research to conceptualize difficulties that students encounter in science education. In research, science classroom experiences of students and teachers have been theorized in terms of the ease with which students and teachers cross cultural borders of the science classroom. Border crossings have been categorized as smooth, manageable, hazardous, or virtually impossible (Cobern & Aikenhead, 1998). The concept of border crossing was borrowed from cultural anthropology and first applied to Western students studying...