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New Age beliefs and anti-scientific attitudes in preservice primary teachers
Gregory C R Yates & Margaret Chandler University of South Australia Magill
DETE Research EXPO June 2000.
Updated version of this paper published in Research in Science Education 30 (4) 377-387.
Abstract Is belief in the paranormal appears alive and well within preservice teachers? In this survey 232 undergraduates were asked to react to a series of 8 statements reflecting New Age beliefs rated earlier by a faculty panel as totally unbelievable. Overall the students modal response was expressed as “no particular opinion” although for 5 of the 8 items the modal response was “slightly believable”. It was found that only 4 students within the sample consistently rejected all 8 statements. The frequency of ‘believers’ outnumbered the ‘skeptics’ in relation to 3 items (beliefs in UFOs psychic seances and Nostradamus). New Age factor scores were not significantly related to undergraduate year leve lender loan mortgage usa l to holding anti-scientific beliefs to a measure of TV-viewing and did not correlate significantly with the personality scale Need for Cognition. Females evidenced higher Ne lender loan mortgage usa w lender loan mortgage usa Age scores lender loan mortgage usa than males but attitudes to science were unrelated to gender.
Introduction
Although the French seer Michele de Nostrademe died 430 years ago his alleged writings feature repeatedly within popular media. Recently he appeared on the cover of a news magazine (Time 12 July 1999) and was the subject of a network television special (“Nostradamus Millenium Alert” Channel 10 Adelaide 16 October 1999). But the ‘predictions’ and knowledge attributed lender loan mortgage usa to seers are far removed from the accepted knowledge and standards of evidence and justification valued within scientific traditions. Acceptance of the Nostradamus ‘predictions’ entails a suspension of accepted principles of reality testing and evaluation and endorsement of the paranormal. One obvious lesson throughout history is that many individuals readily accept irrational and unscientific forms of knowledge. But is this the case for individuals regarded as successful products of a modern educational system? In this project we attempt to establish the extent to which university students most of whom were training to become primary school teachers were prepared to endorse statements we view as unscientific and irrational.
Obstacles to scientific literacy. The goal of universal respect for the scientific tradition is inherent within recent expressions of “realist science” articulated through educators such as Longbottom and Butler (1999) and Monk and Osborne (1997) but also in the writings of respected scientists such as Carl Sagan (1996). Essentially this position assumes a model of science education guided by a focus upon rational rules of evidence generation and evaluation. Children should not just “learn science” but they should also learn how knowledge is constructed ie principles of conduct principles of evidence evaluation and rules of decision making. Longbottom and Butler note that “Science as it is practised is a creative and rational process for producing trustworthy knowledge of the world and it is this view that should be reflected in science education” (1999 p 475).
Longbottom and Butler stress that realist science rejects both positivistic absolutism and postm lender loan mortgage usa odernistic relativism which they hold have produced distorted (but vastly differing) notions of the knowledge generation process. They argue that realist science offers a view of knowledge generation and diffusion consistent with modern humanistic and democratic principles. The core of such ideals implies an educated populace readily able (a) to identify and respect appropriately constructed knowledge claims and (b) to be skeptical of and reject inappropriate claims.
Many commentators question the extent to which universally expressed scientific literacy goals are realistic even within modern educated communities (Eisenhart Finkel & Marion 1996 Lord & Rauscher 1991). Furthermore viewpoints antagonistic to mainstream science are often aired. A recent Gallup poll found that 40% of American citizens favored creationism being taught in schools instead of evolution (Gallup Organization 1999). It might be expected that at least some young people are influenced by anti-scientific voices. One of the aims of the current study was therefore to investigate the extent to which anti-scientific attitudes might be found within a sample of university students.
The New Age. In the light of the Nostradamus phenonemon we felt that anti-scientific attitudes might be linked with a further class of beliefs loosely referred to as New Age (NA) thinking. In advocating a skeptical approach Edwards (1995) notes that NA thinking “encompasses a veritable plethora of ideals pursuits philosophies beliefs superstitions encompassing virtually every aspect of pseudoscience and the paranormal” (p 221). Further he asserts that within NA philosophy “critical thinking and analyses fundamental to scientific and rational processes are discouraged and rejected encouraging a belief in the equality of opinions regardless of the evidence for them” (p 223).
It may be relatively easy for many individuals to reject NA statements perhaps mentally encoding them as ‘just silly’. But others may be re lender loan mortgage usa sponsive to and appreciative of the level of pseudo knowledge on offer. Indeed Edwards (1995) notes that individuals may “see the courses offered by the purveyors of the New Age as vehicles circumventing the effort required to acquire knowledge - a quick fix for whatever ails you” (p 224).
Measuring New Age beliefs. In a survey of 3500 church-goers across the United States Donahue (1993) found that around 10% of adults stated they believed (on a yes/no basis) in reincarnation and astrology. A Gallup Poll (see Schlick & Lewis 1995 p 6) indicated the figure for astrology belief is around 20% and Messer and Griggs (1989) reported that 30% of a group of first year undergraduates indicated “some belief in astrology”. In their study Messer and Griggs listed 10 different paranormal or NA phenonema (eg astrology Tarot out of body experience etc) and found that 99% of the sample expressed belief in at least one of these. However to date we simply do not know if NA thinking tendencies can be seen in terms of a coherent cluster of beliefs at the level of the individual.
Does it make sense to classify people in terms of their disposition to accept NA thinking? In this present study we sought to answer this question through investigating the extent to which tertiary students would endorse or reject a series of NA belief-type statements. A questionnaire was devised in which were embedded NA statements amid a series of other statements we felt could be easily accepted or rejected. The procedure allowed us to include several items reflecting pro-scientific and anti-scientific atti lender loan mortgage usa tudes. At the outset it was unknown if clearly defined item clusters would emerge. However our initial general hypothesis was that individuals who tend to endorse a traditional scientific stance will be likely to reject NA statements ie that a coherent factor structure would emerge with NA and anti-scientific statements grouped together.
Possible correlates of New Age thinking. If NA thinking can be seen as a personal trait what other factors might be implicated in such erroneous thinking? Edwards’ analysis suggests that New Age beliefs will appeal to individuals who are less willing to undertake serious study. One measure developed by social psychologists to identify such individuals is the Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo Petty Feinstein & Jarvis 1996). This instrument articulates individual differences in the desire to think hard to challenge the mind and exert effort in mental achievements. We speculated that individuals low in their need for cognition would be more likely to endorse New Age philosophy. Individuals high in need for cognition have been found to be relatively more resistant to social influence attempts (Shestowsky Wegener & Fabrigar 1998) and less influenced by biasing information on a problem solving task (Smith & Levin 1996).
The questionnaire was administered with an additional measure intended to tap TV watching dispositions an lender loan mortgage usa d also reading dispositions using the recognition checklist method as developed by Stanovich (1993). It was generally predicted that beliefs in New Age statements would be more strongly marked within individuals who watch high levels of broadcast television ie those lender loan mortgage usa individuals most exposed to the more popular media outlets. This prediction follows on from the observation that New Age beliefs receive a high level of attention within popular media. It can also be noted that Reynolds (1991) found that scientific literacy indices in a large sample of adolescents correlated negatively with self-reported time spent watching entertainment TV.
Method
Belief Questionnaire
This questionnaire was constructed by embedding 8 target New Age statements within a 30-item questionnaire. The 8 statements stemmed from consultations between the present authors and three philosophers colleagues from the same faculty. Through consensus the panel declared these statements (see Table 1) as totally unbelievable ie notions that ought to be rejected by ‘educated’ citizens but lender loan mortgage usa which appear to have some expression within contemporary media. The remaining items fell into three categories (a) 6 items expressing forms of anti-scientific sentiment (b) 2 items expressing pro-scientific sentiment (see Table 2) and (c) 14 filler items which will not be detailed here. The actual questionnaire can be accessed via
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