Abstract
Science has been and is an important tool in the construction of theworld view of modern man. There are also others, such as differentreligions. Although the Christian church has had to yield in manydisputes about world-views and philosophies of life, science doesnot seem to have superseded religion. The same also applies to themagic-occult tradition which is supported by numerous occultistmovements and sometimes even the media. From the viewpoint ofscience education, it is interesting to examine to what extent, if at all,the future educators of our children believe in claims presented inscientific, religious and magic-occult connections. Do we find anydifferences between the credibility estimates? Are there any differencesbetween primary teacher students raised in different societies andeducated in different school systems? How do the credibility estimatesrelate to each other? To answer these questions, data was collected bya questionnaire from Finnish, Estonian and Michigan primary teacherstudents. The paper presents the most important results and discussesshortly their significance from the viewpoint of science education.
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Keranto, T. The Perceived Credibility of Scientific Claims, Paranormal Phenomena, and Miracles Among Primary Teacher Students: A Comparative Study. Science & Education 10, 493–511 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011261132355
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011261132355