International Education: A Call for Cross-Cultural Collaboration in the Field of Global Education

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Readings of Curriculum as Intellectualism, Multiculturalism, and Collaboration Throughout International Contexts

Abstract

This study aims to challenges dominance of Western science by illuminating pluralities in the meaning and understanding of science in other contexts. Using de Sousa Santos’ (2007) framework on “globalized localisms” and “localized globalisms”, Posner’s (2004) framework for understanding the curriculum, and Ricouer’s (2007) philosophy of translation, three researchers, each a member of the United States, Philippines, and Ghana, analyzed their respective national science curricula to illuminate similarities and differences in onto-epistemologies. Results indicate that there is a plurality in the purposes, understanding, and meaning in science despite similarities in the content proper. These results imply that because pluralities exist, “international” education must go beyond the distribution of Western science but instead celebrate the pluralities across cultures through collaboration.

Authors

• Anne Tee Vera Cruz, Boston College

• Paul E Madden, Boston College

• Christian Asante, Boston College