A decade ago the Melbourne Declaration stated a desire to see an increased focus on improving the education outcomes for Indigenous students and especially those form low SES backgrounds (Melbourne Declaration, 2008). It also states the need to bring Indigenous cultural and experience in to the classroom as a foundation for learning and that we ensure young Australians become informed citizens who understand the value of Indigenous culture (Melbourne Declaration, 2008). Research has shown that for the past decade Indigenous students have been two and half years behind their non-Indigenous peers (Unfinished Business, 2014). This unfortunately shows that the Melbourne Declaration has not been implemented to any significant degree. 

 

 

If the ideas espoused in the Melbourne Declaration are to become a reality a few ideas need to be considered. Research shows that’s science teachers often adopt a world view of scientism and expect students to do the same (Aikenhead, 2006). This entails forcing an ontological perspective like realism and cartesian duality which propagate a reductionist, machine-like view of the world and a view which often celebrates dominion over nature. In stark contrast to this is the Indigenous perspective which take a holistic view of the nature of knowing seeing harmony between empirical searching and spirituality (Aikenhead, 2006). Given this knowledge, what then can be done to integrate the Indigenous student into the science classroom in an inclusive manner?

 

I believe that Indigenous students can thrive in the science classroom if appropriate strategies are put in place. 

 

1.     Research shows that representation of Indigenous students in the curriculum can boost their self-esteem and improve the chances of success in science (Ninnes, 2000). This can be achieved through the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge into the science curriculum will aid in diffusing the idea that science is western (Ninnes, 2000).

2.     Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has been shown to help in resources management (Prober Suzanne, O'Connor Michael, & Walsh Fiona, 2011), bringing real world examples of Indigenous contributions to society can engage Indigenous students and develop awareness in non-Indigenous students. Drawing parallels between western and native science such as the fact that Indigenous knowledge is specialised, similar to western science with one person not having all the information (Prober Suzanne et al., 2011). This will also buffer against a tokenised view in Indigenous science such as one lesson on the topic being assumed to covered all areas of indigenous science. 

3.     Research shows that the implementation of an Indigenous perspective in the science classroom is marred by teachers lack of understanding of Indigenous science, lack of access to resources as well as little professional development on the subject matter (Baynes, 2016).Part of the reason there is a lack of representation of Indigenous science in the classroom is because teachers find the topic uncomfortable as they may feel they are encroaching on cultural borders (Baynes, 2016). Therefore, teacher education programs are vital for the efficacy of Indigenous science programs.