A cross-cultural study of rural Australian Aboriginal children's undertanding of night and day

Traditional stories are told to many Aboriginal children about night and day throughout Australia. Do these stories influence their scientific thinking? Are there other cultural practices which may influence children's undertandings in science? This paper details a pilot study which sought to find out what four-to-eight year old rural Australian Aboriginal children from central New South Wales think about night and day (N=15). The research design was consistent with previous mainstream cross-cultural studies (Thijs &; Van Den Berg, 1995), but more culturally inclusive in its implementation. The findings raise serious questions about the framing of cross-cultural research and the realisation of indigenous data.