Teachers' Views on Aboriginal Students Learning Western and Aboriginal Science

Résumé

Our interpretive research in northern Saskatchewan inquired into: (a) how science teachers view Western science, (b) how they currently introduce Aboriginal knowledge into their science classrooms, (c) what they believe about the influence of Aboriginal knowledge on learning Western science, and (d) how teachers explain the underrepresentation of Aboriginal people in careers related to science and technology. Barriers to accommodating the cultures of Western and Aboriginal science in classrooms were found to be: conceptual (not recognizing science as a culture); pedagogical (not understanding that students' preconceptions can interfere with learning science and not providing cross-cultural instruc­tion for students); ideological (blaming students for not taking senior science classes); psychological (differing responses to cultural conflict in the classroom); cultural (schools promoting memorization rather than deep understanding, some students feeling disconnected from their Indigenous cultures, and some people not supporting Aboriginal knowledge in science classes); and practical (insuffi­cient resources and support for teachers and students). We found that students were generally forced to navigate between their home culture and the culture of school science on their own. Three key recommendations are proposed for develop­ ing culturally responsive curricula, instruction, and assessment.