Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

The wrestle for a holistic wreality through science and religion : a science teacher's autoethnography

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2021.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Wassermann, Johannes Michiel
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2022
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613528013144064
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Wassermann, Johannes Michiel
author_browse Wassermann, Johannes Michiel
author_facet Wassermann, Johannes Michiel
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2022 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2021.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/85566
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:37:34.574Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/85566 The wrestle for a holistic wreality through science and religion : a science teacher's autoethnography Wassermann, Johannes Michiel Phillipmirkin@yahoo.com Gaigher, Estelle Mirkin, Philip Joshua UCTD Science teacher Holism Religion Autoethnography Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2021. I am an experienced science teacher and express my love of science through poetry. This autoethnography digs deeply into the how and why of my life-long wrestle for a holistic wreality that believes that meaning-rich learning is needed in the science classroom. This wrestle led me to several significant personal experiences and to question many assumptions within my ethnographic background, science and religion. It also opened me to the ideas of Rudolf Steiner and Plato and led to the combined holism of Jan Smuts and Wolfgang von Goethe that became the theoretical framework for this autoethnography. As a science teacher, I love the training of disciplined observation and thinking as well as the empowerment implicit in the independent investigation that science offers. Research shows, however, that the materialist, positivist assumptions of Physical Science create conceptual and alienation challenges for many science students and that the use of the arts can help to address some of these. Research also shows that many science Nobel Laureates practice the arts or are religious. My experiences in the science classroom affirm the benefits of artistic and religious meaning-making. This thesis presents my wrestle for a holistic wreality that contextualises objective scientific facts within subjective indigenous and religious knowledge, for a defragmented or holistic understanding and working relationship between them. This thesis introduces the concept of wreality as an individual’s construct of reality and adds to the field of autoethnographic methodology through the development and use of a Concept Map of Autoethnography. It also demonstrates a metaphorical world using Boal’s ‘theatre of the oppressed’ to allow for a creative and liberating framework for my data presentation and analysis. Findings from this research include the Holism Evolution Graph of my holistic wreality which hypothesises the emergence of a new substance into our holistic universe. The nature of this substance and how we may have an experience of it is described in my autoethnography and referenced against religious texts and researched personal experiences. Findings of a personal nature, such as a reflection on the ethnographic worlds of my youth and my possible mild autism, also emerged Humanities Education PhD Unrestricted 2022-05-18T09:44:04Z 2022-05-18T09:44:04Z 2022-09 2021 Thesis * S2022 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85566 en © 2022 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Science teacher
Holism
Religion
Autoethnography
The wrestle for a holistic wreality through science and religion : a science teacher's autoethnography
title The wrestle for a holistic wreality through science and religion : a science teacher's autoethnography
title_full The wrestle for a holistic wreality through science and religion : a science teacher's autoethnography
title_fullStr The wrestle for a holistic wreality through science and religion : a science teacher's autoethnography
title_full_unstemmed The wrestle for a holistic wreality through science and religion : a science teacher's autoethnography
title_short The wrestle for a holistic wreality through science and religion : a science teacher's autoethnography
title_sort wrestle for a holistic wreality through science and religion a science teacher s autoethnography
topic UCTD
Science teacher
Holism
Religion
Autoethnography
url https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85566