Abstract
In this chapter, we discuss the intercultural perspectives of science education that acknowledge the colonial past (and present) in Latin America. We posit a pluralist epistemology as the basis for an intercultural scientific education where productive dialogues between traditional and scientific/school knowledge can occur. After introducing some of the work undertaken by science education researchers in different countries, we present our work related to culturally sensitive modeling, life projects, and identity. Finally, we discuss how Latin American views on science education can provide a new perspective on science education, one that considers native epistemologies and wisdom and aims for social and epistemic justice.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Retrieved on October 8, 2022 from https://es.unesco.org/links/climatechange
- 2.
“Good living” is part of the worldview and practice of indigenous peoples that is based on good deeds and good manners, good community practices, and a constructive way of relating to the Earth (Sánchez Álvarez & Bolom Pale, 2013).
- 3.
The use of fertilizers has emerged as a relevant topic for students (García Franco et al., 2022).
References
Aikenhead, G. S. (2001). Integrating western and Aboriginal sciences: Cross-cultural science teaching. Research in Science Education, 31(3), 337–355. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013151709605
Altieri, M., & Toledo, V. (2011). The agroecological revolution of Latin America: Rescuing nature, securing food sovereignty and empowering peasants. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 38(3), 587–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2011.582947
Bracamontes Nájera, L., Fuentes Ponce, M., Rodríguez Sánchez, L. M., & Macedas Jiménez, L. (2018). Manual de indicadores biológicos de la salud del suelo [Handbook of biological indicators of soil health]. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.
Chadwick, G., & Bonan, L. (2018). Educación científica intercultural. Tendiendo puentes conceptuales sobre Las Pléyades en el Gran Chaco [Intercultural scientific education. Building conceptual bridges over the Pleiades in the Gran Chaco]. Tecne, Episteme y Didaxis, 43, 17–29.
Chaiklin, S., & Lave, J. (2001). Understanding practice: Perspectives on activity and context. Amorrortu.
Chamizo Guerrero, J. A., & García Franco, A. (2010). Modelos y modelaje en la enseñanza de las ciencias naturales [Models and modeling in the teaching of natural sciences]. Facultad de Química. Universidad Naional Autónoma de México.
El-Hani, C. N., Poliseli, L., & Ludwig, D. (2022a). Beyond the divide between indigenous and academic knowledge: Causal and mechanistic explanations in a Brazilian fishing community. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 91(3), 296–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.11.001
El-Hani, C. N., Ribeiro do Amaral, E. M. R., & Mortimer, E. F. (2022b). Heterogeinity and pluralism in science education from the perspective of conceptual profiles. En Multidisciplinary perspectives on representational pluralism in human cognition (pp. 181–200). Routledge.
Freire. P. (1970). Pedagogía del oprimido [Pedagogy of the oppressed]. Tierra Nueva/Siglo XXI.
García Franco, A. (2015). La milpa como proyecto didáctico [The milpa as a didactic project]. In A. A. Gómez Galindo, & M. Quintanilla (Eds.) La enseñanza de las ciencias naturales basada en proyectos [Project-based teaching of natural sciences]. (pp. 155–172).
García Franco, A., Ferrara, R. L., & Gómez Galindo, A. A. (2022). Culturally relevant science education and critical thinking in indigenous people: Bridging the gap between community and school science. In B. Puig & M. P. Jiménez-Aleixandre (Eds.), Critical thinking in biology and environmental education (Contributions from Biology Education Research) (pp. 55–72). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92006-7_4
García, E., Sevillano, R., Castro, M., Grajales, Y., Castillo, M., & Carabalí, J. (2019). Diversidad cultural en la enseñanza de las ciencias en Colombia [Cultural diversity in science education in Colombia]. Programa Editorial Univalle.
Geertz, C. (1973). Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays (pp. 3–30). Basic Books.
Gómez Galindo, A. A. (2013). Explicaciones narrativas y modelización en la enseñanza de la biología [Narrative explanations and modelling in biology teaching]. Enseñanza de las ciencias, 31(1), 11–28.
Gómez Galindo, A. A., Sanmartí, N., & Pujol, R. (2007). Fundamentación teórica y diseño de una unidad didáctica para construir el modelo de ser vivo en la escuela primaria [Theoretical foundation and design of a didactic unit to build the model of living being in primary school]. Enseñanza de las Ciencias, 25(3), 325–340.
Gómez Galindo, A. A, García Franco, A., y Koller Hernández, M. (2017). Relevancia de los hechos del mundo en la modelización: La milpa como hecho paradigmático para la selección artificial [Relevance of world facts in modeling: The milpa as a paradigmatic fact for artificial selection]. International Congress on Research in Didactics of Sciences (Enseñanza de las Ciencias, special issue. pp. 455–460).
Gómez Galindo, A. A., García Franco, A., Gónzalez, L., & Torres Frías, J. C. (2019). Cultural diversity and evolution: Looking for a dialogical teaching perspective. In U. Harms & M. Reiss (Eds.), Evolution education re-considered (pp. 227–247). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14698-6_13
Gómez Galindo, A. A., García Franco, A., y Kholer Hernández, M. (2021a). Diversidad biocultural y cambio climático: estudiando el maíz nativo en la clase de ciencias [Biocultural diversity and climate change: studying native maize in science class]. Alambique didáctica de las ciencias experimentales, 108, 48–55.
Gómez Galindo, A. A., González Galli, L., & García Franco, A. (2021b). Artificial selection of maize as a bridging case to teach natural selection: A simulation proposal. Journal of Biological Education, 55(5), 487–500. https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2019.1707262
Hall, S. (1996). The question of cultural identity. In S. Hall, D. Held, D. Hubert, & K. Thompson (Eds.), Modernity: An introduction to modern societies (pp. 596–632). Blackwell. http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/Hall-Identity-Modernity-1.pdf
INEGI. (2020). Encuesta Intercensal 2020 [Intercensal Survey 2020]. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. Retrieved from: https://www.inegi.org.mx/temas/lengua/#Informacion_general
Izquierdo-Aymerich, M. (2005). Hacia una teoría de los contenidos escolares [Towards a theory of school content]. Enseñanza de las Ciencias, 23(1), 111–122.
Izquierdo-Aymerich, M., & Adúriz-Bravo, A. (2003). Epistemological foundations of school science. Science & Education, 12, 27–43. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022698205904
Juang, L. P., & Schachner, M. K. (2020). Cultural diversity, migration and education. International Journal of Psychology, 55, 695–701. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12702
Lave, J. (2001). La práctica del aprendizaje [The practice of learning]. In S. Chalkin, & J. Lave (Comps.), Estudiar las prácticas, perspectivas sobre actividad y contexto [Studying practices, perspectives on activity and context]. Amorrotu.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
Melo-Brito, N. B. (2017). Los puentes en la enseñanza de las ciencias: un compromiso para comprender las investigaciones sobre las relaciones entre conocimientos científicos escolares y conocimientos ecológicos tradicionales [Bridges in science education: a commitment to understanding research on the relationships between school scientific knowledge and traditional ecological knowledge]. Tecné Episteme y Didaxis, 42(2), 43–61.
Molina Andrade, A. (2017). Algunas aproximaciones a una perspectiva intercultural: Entre discursos generales de la educación y específicos centrados en la naturaleza de lo que se quiere enseñar [Some approaches to an intercultural perspective: Between general discourses of education and specific issues focused on the nature of what is to be taught]. Tecné, Episteme y Didaxis, 42, 7–21.
Olivé, L. (2007). La ciencia y la tecnología en la sociedad del conocimiento. Ética, política y epistemología [Science and technology in the knowledge society. Ethics, politics and epistemology]. Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Rahm, J. (2021). Identity and agency in informal science education through the lens of equity and social justice. In Dans G.W. Noblit (dir.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (s.p.). Oxford University Press.
Reyes-Sánchez, L. B. (2006). Enseñanza de la ciencia del suelo en el contexto del desarrollo sustentable [Teaching soil science in the context of sustainable development]. Terra Latinoamericana, 24(3), 431–439.
Rogoff, B., Coppens, A. D., Alcalá, L., Aceves-Azuara, I., Ruvalcaba, O., López, A., & Dayton, A. (2017). Noticing learners’ strengths through cultural research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(5), 876–888. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617718355
Sánchez Álvarez, M., & Bolom Pale, M. (2013). Vocabulario tsotsil [Tsotsil vocabulary]. Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, A.C.
Sartorello, C., & Bertelly, M. (2019). Milpas educativas para el buen vivir. Nuestra cosecha [Educational Milpas for Good Living. Our harvest]. CIESAS, México.
Sensevy, G., Tiberghien, A., Santini, J., Laubé, S., & Griggs, P. (2008). An epistemological approach to modeling: Cases studies and implications for science teaching. Science Education, 92(3), 424–446. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.20268
Smith, T., Avraamidou, L., & Adams, D. J. (2022). Culturally relevant/responsive and sustaining pedagogies in science education: Theoretical perspectives and curriculum implication. Cultural Studies in Science Education, 17(3), 637–660. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-021-10082-4
Sotillo, J., y Surasky, J. (2016). Las relaciones entre Europa y América Latina en perspectiva decolonial. ¿Encuentro o desencuentro? [Relations between Europe and Latin America in a decolonial perspective] Iberoamérica Social: revista-red de estudios sociales VI, 54–68. Retrieved from: http://iberoamericasocial.com/las-relaciones-europa-america-latina-perspectiva-decolonial-encuentro-desencuentro
Sousa Santos, B. (2011). Epistemologías del Sur [Epistemologies of the South]. Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana, 16(54), 17–39.
Thompson, J. B. (2002). Ideología y cultura moderna. Teoría crítica social en la era de la comunicación de masas [Ideology and Modern Culture. Critical social theory in the age of mass communication]. UAM.
Valladares Riveroll, L. (2010). La educación científica intercultural y el enfoque de las capacidades [Intercultural science education and the capabilities approach]. Revista CTS, 16(10), 39–69.
Valladares Riveroll, L. (2011). Un modelo dialógico intercultural de educación científica [An intercultural dialogic model of science education]. Cuadernos interculturales, 9(16), 119–134.
Valladares Riveroll, L. (2022). Post-truth and education. Science & Education, 31(5), 1311–1337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-021-00293-0
Walsh, C. (2009). Interculturalidad crítica y pedagogía de-colonial: Apuestas (des)de el in-surgir, re-existir y re-vivir [Critical Interculturaly and de-colonial pedagogy]. In P. Melgarejo (Ed.) Educación Intercultural en América Latina: Memorias, horizontes históricos y disyuntivas políticas [Intercultural Education in Latin America: Memories, historical horizons and political dilemmas] (pp. 1–29). Plaza y Valdés.
World Bank. (2015). Indigenous Latin America in the twenty-first century: The first decade. World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/23751
Acknowledgements
Our deepest thanks to the students of the Highlands of Chiapas, the Central Depression of Chiapas and the Montaña of Guerrero, Mexico, who participated in the activities documented here.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gómez Galindo, A.A., García Franco, A., Koller Hernández, M. (2024). Intercultural Perspectives in Science Education. In: Marzabal, A., Merino, C. (eds) Rethinking Science Education in Latin-America. Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education, vol 59. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52830-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52830-9_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-52829-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-52830-9
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)