Page 359 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

334 J.D. Adams

Knowledge Versus Knowing in the Science Classroom

Aikenhead and Ogawa (2007) make a clear distinction between knowing and
coming to know. Eurocentric knowledge is something that one acquires; similar to
gathering and counting coconuts on a beach. As Paulo Freire (1993) described,
knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those
whom they consider to know nothing. Projecting an absolute ignorance onto others, a
characteristic of the ideology of oppression, negates education and knowledge as processes
of inquiry.” (p. 72)
This idea reminds me of the sinking feeling I wrestled with when a well-respected
elder science educator announced it was her charge to “bring science to those who
have no science.” In her Eurocentric worldview, science or scientific knowledge is
a product that can be produced, bought, sold, or given away, like alms to the unfor-
tunate. And yet, learning and knowing in indigenous cultures is “a journey that
requires experiential processes … it must be experienced in the context of living in
a particular place in nature, in the pursuit of wisdom, and in the context of multiple
relationships” (Aikenhead and Ogawa 2007, p. 553–554).
Even with pervasive educational discourses about multiculturalism, diversity and
equity, and history and literature courses including perspectives and works from
different cultures (versus the Eurowestern canon), science remains mostly Eurocentric.
Where are the indigenous voices? Scientific colonialism exists in the form of
national and “world-class” standards and standards-based curricula and testing
mandates. It also exists in the discussions of indigenous knowledge and science
education as a topic of increasing interest, with much of the discourse focusing on
culturally relevant science education, that is, connecting science to the lives of indig-
enous/minority/poor/other marginalized students and less on reclaiming what these
cultural groups offer to science and science education. Indigenous ways of knowing
offer science education a process of learning about the universe – a way of engaging
in the natural world – that is holistic, place-based, and is relevant to daily life. What
would modern science look like if the kinds of questions asked, and the kinds of data
collected, and the ways in which we interpret these data came from a nonexclusive
European or North American perspective? What if science were more integrated and
welcoming of different worldviews? Let’s start a conversation!
The recent fatal sweat lodge incident in Arizona is an example of what happens
when indigenous knowledge and skill is appropriated and used without regard to its
original cultural significance and purpose. People died and many others fell ill
during a “spiritual cleansing ceremony” in a sauna-like sweat lodge. In a statement,
th
Arvol Looking Horse, the 19 generation keeper of the sacred white buffalo calf
pipe noted:
I am concerned for the 2 deaths and illnesses of the many people that participated in a
sweat lodge in Sedona, Arizona that brought our sacred rite under fire in the news. I would
like to clarify that this lodge and many others, are not our ceremonial way of life, because
of the way they are being conducted. My prayers go out for their families and loved ones
for their loss. (October 20, 2009)