Abstract
Past studies have provided important insights into the relationship between science education and information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, few studies have sought to promote learning by integrating science education with indigenous culture via ICTs. Indigenous culture is a treasure of human civilization, but there is a crisis of rapid disappearance. Integrating indigenous culture into students’ science education may help them understand the scientific implications of their culture, and preserve and participate in their cultural activities. This study explores the relationships between science education and indigenous culture through the use of ICTs in the context of Taiwan’s Rukai tribe. A research process was proposed with three steps: planning, execution, and evaluation. There were 15 indigenous pre-service teachers from six tribes participating in the study. The results show that ICTs help them understand the scientific principles of their own culture, and develop practical materials and lesson plans that can be used for future teaching. It also makes them aware of the meaning and importance of their own culture.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aikenhead, G. S. (1996). Science education: Border crossing into the subculture of science. Studies in Science Education, 27, 1–52.
Aikenhead, G. S. (1997). Toward a first nations cross-cultural science and technology curriculum. Science Education, 81(2), 217–238.
Aikenhead, G. S. (2001a). Integrating Western and aboriginal sciences: Cross-cultural science teaching. Research in Science Education, 31(3), 337–355.
Aikenhead, G. S. (2001b). Students’ ease in crossing cultural borders into school science. Science Education, 85(2), 180–188.
Aikenhead, G. S., & Jegede, O. J. (1999). Cross-cultural science education: A cognitive explanation of a cultural phenomenon. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36, 269–287.
Aikenhead, G. S., & Michell, H. (2011). Bridging cultures: Indigenous and scientific ways of knowing nature (1st ed.). Pearson Education.
Aldous, C., Barnes, A., & Clark, J. (2008). Engaging excellent Aboriginal students in science: An innovation in culturally-inclusive schooling. Teaching Science, 54(4), 35–39.
Atwater, M. M., & Riley, J. P. (1993). Multicultural science education: Perspectives, definitions, and research agenda. Science Education, 77, 661–668.
Baker, W. (2012). From cultural awareness to intercultural awareness: Culture in ELT. ELT Journal, 66(1), 62–70.
Çardak, C. S., & Selvi, K. (2016). Increasing teacher candidates’ ways of interaction and levels of learning through action research in a blended course. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, 488–506.
Carrión-Martínez, J. J., Luque-de la Rosa, A., Fernández-Cerero, J., & Montenegro-Rueda, M. (2020). Information and communications technologies (ICTs) in education for sustainable development: A bibliographic review. Sustainability, 12(8), 3288.
Council of Indigenous Peoples. (2021). Rukai. https://www.cip.gov.tw/en/tribe/grid-list/A1076DE2F8CB0091D0636733C6861689/info.html?cumid=D0636733C6861689
De Fazio, T. (2016). Professional learning in higher education and communities: Towards a new vision for action research. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(6), 1316–1318.
Dewsbury, B. M. (2020). Deep teaching in a college STEM classroom. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 15(1), 169–191.
Downing, R., & Kowal, E. (2011). A postcolonial analysis of Indigenous cultural awareness training for health workers. Health Sociology Review, 20(1), 5–15.
Galili, I. (2019). Towards a refined depiction of nature of science. Science & Education, 28(3), 503–537.
Gutwin, C., & Greenberg, S. (2002). A descriptive framework of workspace awareness for real-time groupware. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 11(3–4), 411–446.
Jiménez-Balam, D., Alcalá, L., & Salgado, D. (2019). Maya children’s medicinal plant knowledge: Initiative and agency in their learning process. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 22, 100333.
Kassab, M., DeFranco, J., & Laplante, P. (2020). A systematic literature review on Internet of things in education: Benefits and challenges. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 36(2), 115–127.
Lipka, J., the Ciulistet Group. (1989). Expanding curricular and pedagogical possibilities: Yup’ik based mathematics, science, and literacy. In J. Lipka & G. V. Mohatt (Eds.), Transforming the culture of schools: Yup’ik Eskimo examples, Mahwah. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Lipka, J. M. (1989b). A cautionary tale of curriculum development in Yup’ik Eskimo communities. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 20(3), 216–231.
Lipka, J., Wong, M., & Andrew-Ihrke, D. (2013). Alaska native indigenous knowledge opportunities for learning mathematics. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 25(1), 129–150.
Matengu, M., Korkeamäki, R. L., & Cleghorn, A. (2019). Conceptualizing meaningful education: The voices of indigenous parents of young children. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 22, 100242.
Mavuru, L., & Ramnarain, U. (2020). Learners’ socio-cultural backgrounds and science teaching and learning: A case study of township schools in South Africa. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 15(4), 1067–1095.
Mertler, C. A. (2019). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Ministry of Culture. (2021). Myth and Celebration. https://ticeda.moc.gov.tw/home/en-us/RukaiFestival
Moran, S. (2016). What do teachers think about youth purpose? Journal of Education for Teaching, 42(5), 582–601.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (2009). Designing education projects (2nd ed.). U.S. Department of Commerce.
Ortiz-Revilla, J., Greca, I. M., & Arriassecq, I. (2022). A Theoretical Framework for Integrated STEM Education. Science & Education, 31, 383–404.
Palomares-Ruiz, A., Cebrián, A., López-Parra, E., & García-Toledano, E. (2020). ICT integration into science education and its relationship to the digital gender gap. Sustainability, 12(13), 5286.
Patton, M. Q. (1999). Enhancing the quality and credibility of qualitative analysis. Health Services Research, 34(5 Pt 2), 1189.
Ruddell, N. (2021). Mutual cultural responsivity: Towards a framework for contemporary school science-an open letter to educators and school communities. Teaching Science, 67(1), 31–34.
Sánchez Tapia, I., Krajcik, J., & Reiser, B. (2018). “We do not know what is the real story anymore”: Curricular contextualization principles that support indigenous students in understanding natural selection. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55(3), 348–376.
Sangasubana, N. (2011). How to conduct ethnography research. The Qualitative Report, 16(2), 567–573.
Schmidt, K. (2002). The problem with “awareness”: Introductory remarks on ’awareness in CSCW. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 11(3), 285–298.
Sumarni, W., Sudarmin, S., Sumarti, S. S., & Kadarwati, S. (2022). Indigenous knowledge of Indonesian traditional medicines in science teaching and learning using a science–technology–engineering–mathematics (STEM) approach. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 17, 467–510.
Volpe, G., & Gori, M. (2019). Multisensory interactive technologies for primary education: From science to technology. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1076.
Wan, D., Zhang, H., & Wei, B. (2018). Impact of Chinese culture on pre-service science teachers’ views of the nature of science. Science & Education, 27(3), 321–355.
Wei, C. W., Kao, H. Y., Lu, H. H., & Liu, Y. C. (2018). The effects of competitive gaming scenarios and personalized assistance strategies on English vocabulary learning. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 21(3), 146–158.
Wu, W. H., Kao, H. Y., Wu, S. H., & Wei, C. W. (2019). Development and evaluation of affective domain using student’s feedback in entrepreneurial massive open online courses. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1109.
Zidny, R., Sjöström, J., & Eilks, I. (2020). A multi-perspective reflection on how indigenous knowledge and related ideas can improve science education for sustainability. Science & Education, 29(1), 145–185.
Funding
This study was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Republic of China (Taiwan) (MOST109–2511-H-037–008), MOE Teaching Practice Research Program (PBM1110178) and Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU-M111016).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, WH., Kao, HY., Yan, WC. et al. The Impact of Integrating Tribal Culture and Science Education Through Information and Communication Technology. Sci & Educ 33, 347–364 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-022-00391-7
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-022-00391-7