Abstract
The Age of Enlightenment in 18th century Europe gave birth to the Western modern worldview that privileges logical reasoning(rationality) over religious faith and objective evidence (empiricism) over emotions. Since at least the turn of the 20th century, science education curricula and pedagogies have been (uncritically) inducting students into this materialistic worldview. Today, the interrelated disciplines of the natural sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (popularly termed ‘STEM’) are at the forefront of engaging students in this worldview as they learn ‘at arm’s length’ (i.e., objectively) about the world out there: the physical world of naturally occurring phenomena and events lying largely beyond the confines of the classroom. Clearly, the Western modern worldview has enhanced our lives in many ways: advanced health systems and biomedical interventions, global communication and transport systems, labor-saving domestic and industrial devices, genetically enhanced food crops, robotization of industrial production, etc. These enthrallingtechnological developments havebeen enhancedby the digital computing revolution. Nevertheless, these icons of the Fourth Industrial Revolution should not be regarded as beyond critique [6]. We need to reflect critically on the question of whose interests are best served and whose are not, especially when we consider that these interests are governed, by and large, by the imperatives of our global market economy that is premised on unlimited growth and consumption [5]
