Who's Asking?

The answers to scientific questions depend on who is asking, because the questions asked and the answers sought reflect the cultural values and orientations of the questioner. These values and orientations are most often those of Western science. This book argues that despite the widely held view that science is objective, value-neutral, and acultural, scientists do not shed their cultures at the laboratory or classroom door; their practices reflect their values, belief systems, and worldviews. This book argues further that scientist diversity provides new perspectives and leads to more effective science and better science education. This book compares Native American and European American orientations toward the natural world and apply these findings to science education. The European American model sees humans as separated from nature; the Native American model sees humans as part of a natural ecosystem. Thsi book then reports on the development of ecologically oriented and community-based science education programs on the Menominee reservation in Wisconsin and at the American Indian Center of Chicago. This book's argument for scientist diversity also has important implications for questions of minority underrepresentation in science.