A Postcolonial Discourse Analysis of a Tenth Grade Science Curriculum Guide

Abstract

This study analyzed the construction of the concepts “science,” “scientific literacy,” and “Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing” in Science 10, Saskatchewan’s tenth-grade school science curriculum guide. The postcolonial discourse analysis revealed several key presuppositions of modern Western (Eurocentric) discourses in the curriculum guide. The construction of “science” and “scientific literacy” revealed assumptions characteristic of modern Western science, while “Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing” were paradoxically constructed as commensurable with but other than “science.” These findings demonstrate that Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing are misunderstood in the curriculum guide. Moreover, the research suggests that thematic content may provide a better point of entry for the integration of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing into mainstream science programs than specific knowledge content (which may not necessarily cross cultural borders). This indicates the need to reconsider the development of multicultural science curricula across culturally diverse borders.