Applying a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy to Promote Indigenous Technology in Teaching Design Skills

Abstract

This chapter explores the strategies that are related to culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) to facilitate the integration of indigenous technology in teaching design skills in Technology Education classes. Technology teachers are advised to consider indigenous pedagogy (IP) as that will accommodate learners from both indigenous and non-indigenous contexts; curricula and teaching have a colonial history of excluding indigenous knowledge. Indigenous pedagogy is based on experiential and practical learning which is dominant in indigenous communities. It is therefore a pedagogy through which the young ones are taught and shown how to perform tasks in their localities. The specific indigenous pedagogy framing the discussions in this chapter is culturally relevant. This study revealed that culturally relevant pedagogy has a role to play in the teaching of design skills in Technology Education, hence it can help Technology teachers to make the learning of Technology relevant to indigenous learners who are mostly switched off from learning by the conventional pedagogies. The findings of the study revealed that the use of CRP can promote the integration of indigenous knowledge and artefacts in the teaching of design skills. The findings suggest a review of the current design method to accommodate indigenous as well as non-indigenous learners. Therefore, we suggest an indigenous technology-based design process (ITbDP) which can transform the current conventional approaches in the teaching of Technology.