Abstract

This study analyzes videotaped interviews and 407 photographs taken by 20 grade 5 and 6 students in rural New York State to document their science and engineering learning. Aristotle's concept of phronesis or practical wisdom frames the findings and their implications. Key findings indicate that: 1) All 20 children found examples of science and engineering; 2) The children learned by observing or doing or both; 3) The children learned from family members, particularly parents and grandparents; 4) These 20 children learned numerous science and engineering concepts by participating in activities associated with their daily lives; and 5) Only when directly probed did students make explicit connections between what they learned outside school in their local environments and what they learned in the science classroom. These findings point to the need to anchor the teaching and learning of science and engineering in the students' experiential habitat; thus, bridging the gap between children's local knowledge and global science.

How to Cite:

Avery, L. M. & Kassam, K., (2011) “Phronesis: Children's Local Rural Knowledge of Science and Engineering”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 26(2), 1–18.

Rights: Copyright