Out of place: Indigenous knowledge in the science curriculum

Abstract

This chapter reviews the history of indigenous science education research, which has emerged from wider discourses of multiculturalism and equity for non-Western students in science education. There is a history of fierce debate between oppositional positions taken on the question of including indigenous knowledge (IK) in the science curriculum: while none dispute the importance of indigenous knowledge, only some equate it with indigenous science, understood as a valid form of science incompatible with Western science. Research into the inclusion of Māori knowledge in the science curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand indicates that such efforts often employ emblematic aspects, extracted from au..