Twenty-nine Zulu-speaking primary school teachers were enrolled for a certificate in-service science education course. Initially, informal classroom discussions with these teachers pointed out poor conceptual knowledge in basic astronomy. This study investigated teachers' scientific and indigenous conceptions of the Earth-Moon-Sun (E-M-S) system,…

Experiences of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation (Occaneechi) in constructing a heritage revitalization initiative known as the Homeland Preservation Project and organizing related educational programming were analyzed through an ethnographic case study. The purpose of the study was to understand the importance of the heritage museum as a…

Across the mouth of the Tauranga Harbour lies a piece of paradise, Te Moutere o Matakana--Matakana Island. It is blessed with an ocean beach with white sand and a mean surf break, tidal flats, wetlands, fertile pasture, and a native and exotic forest. It is home to a maori language nest for the local children--Te Kohanga Reo o te Moutere o…

This analysis encompassed four different projects that were implemented as reform initiatives at the college. The authors' collaborative work and this subsequent analysis have drawn on insights from Cochran-Smith (2004), who describes teacher education as both a "learning problem and a political problem" that involves the creation of inquiry…

In a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual country like India, making priorities about the use of language in education, administration, media and other domains of activities is not free from adverse effects. The choice of one language over others becomes threat to the existence of many. The constitution of India has made…

The mandate of the new South African curriculum for educators to enact a science-indigenous knowledge curriculum in their classrooms is not only challenging to their cosmological beliefs, it is equally challenging to their instructional practices. This is because science educators (teachers) in South Africa have been schooled largely in western…

Offering an Indigenous perspective, this commentary discusses collaborative research, shared meaning making, and knowledge building specific to child development, and reflects on social, cultural, and historical aspects that influence these processes. Drawing upon experiences of developing a collaborative research approach with which to engage…

During the past 20 years, English language teaching and learning has grown phenomenally in Cambodia as the country has opened up to the outside world following more than two decades of civil war. As a result, the standard of English spoken today in Cambodia has also risen dramatically. One feature of this context of dynamic change has been the…

This article examines the way in which some of the most discriminated against, disadvantaged and marginalised groups on the African continent, are re-defining education through strategies aimed at recognition of rights and social justice. It uses Fraser's analysis of social justice--distribution, recognition and participation--to examine the…

Since the second century, libraries have been esteemed as keepers of the flame of knowledge and culture. At the stone Library of Celcus, constructed in Turkey in 1100 A.D., for example, 15,000 documents were kept safe from the elements and other destructive forces such as rodents. In places like Celcus, the knowledge of Greek philosophy, Roman…

Communication patterns and explanatory processes are culturally specific and not often compatible with research data-gathering approaches. Particularly in areas of medical research and health and health-care behavioral research, indigenous educators and researchers note their frustration when Western paradigms, academic traditions, and medical…

One explanation for our failure to close the educational gaps that separate Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners in Canada is to see it as a byproduct of mainstream pedagogy, which has ridden roughshod over the epistemic differences--different ways of knowing--that set Indigenous knowers apart from their non-Indigenous counterparts. Persons…

The author's two main arguments in her discussion include: teaching and researching Native literatures within the disciplinary context of Native Studies enhances the understanding of these texts; vice versa, Native writers address topics that are intrinsic components in epistemological processes of decolonization promoted in a Native Studies…

Concerned by the need to decolonize education for Aboriginal students, the authors explore philosophies of Indigenous ways of knowing and those of the 21st century learning movement. In their efforts to propose a way forward with Aboriginal education, the authors inquire into harmonies between Aboriginal knowledges and tenets of 21st century…

This paper proposes a framework for the development of culturally responsive practices in beginning teachers to meet the needs of diverse students in multicultural classrooms. The framework describes the trajectory beginning teachers undergo toward becoming culturally responsive and discusses how teacher educators in liberal arts colleges can…