Page 360 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

28 One Hundred Ways to Use a Coconut 335

How can science educators avoid making these mistakes and avoid essentializing
indigenous people? In education, we must not repeat the same thing. It is important
for educators to include marginalized peoples – indigenous, minority, immigrant,
linguistic minorities – in the process of making decisions about teaching and
learning. This means not only incorporating indigenous ways of knowing in the
science classroom, but also reclaiming lost, deemphasized, or ignored knowledges.
By encouraging indigenous knowledge systems inside the classroom, by embracing
and valuing them, and blurring the “borders” artificially separating the class-
room and community, we create science learning experiences that are relevant to
creating an ecologically and culturally sustainable future.

References

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Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum Press.
Harding, S. (1998). Is science multicultural? Postcolonialism, feminism, and epistemologies.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Looking Horse, Arvol (2009, October 20). Letters to the people: Sedona sweat lodge deaths.
Retrieved October 20, 2009, from www.manataka.org/page108.html#October_20, 2009.
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