The western framework of science education can be seen as too restrictive for a rapidly changing world because it often limits the contributions of other epistemologies to science. Western education standards restrict the form of science that is commonly taught throughout institutions. It also affects the value that is placed on certain scientific understandings, like the dismissal of many Native ways of knowing within academia (Bang et al., 2012). Indigenous science often focuses on a place-based learning, which can strengthen the relational view of science to develop a more meaningful connection for students. Within the differences between the two approaches, tensions can develop, such as disconnect in the language that is used to teach and the students’ experiences. Western scientific language does not attribute significance to environmental features, like the movement of fish in waterways, or people’s lived experience, separating scientific observation from traditional knowledge that has developed through millennia. The integration of the two approaches would provide students with a greater understanding of science, broadening students' perspective. Additionally, Native education uses a broader definition of a classroom while western education limits the definition. The Native perspective can engage students with a holistic experience of science while enforcing the relational understanding of the sciences (Kawagley & Barnhardt, 1998). Certain aspects of science, especially in discussions of life and earth sciences, can be empowered by combining a Native understanding of science within the traditional western academia.
As part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU, NSF-2150364) program at TERC, a nonprofit organization that focuses on STEM education research, I explored how Native students in life and earth sciences view their educational experiences and their institutions. I also examined their perceptions of how those institutions and departments regard them. This allowed for an examination of the effects of a western educational system from a non-dominant group perspective to understand the effects of the current system. My analysis of interview data indicates that Native participants note a disconnect between their Native values and western science.
This study drew from a larger project, Native STEM Portraits (NSP) Project (NSF-2000619), which is a longitudinal study that investigates the supports and barriers experienced by Native individuals in STEM higher education and professions across six disciplines. The American Indian Science and Engineering Society, TERC, and the University of Georgia collaborate in this project. NSP uses both survey data and photo elicitation (PE) interviews to develop a more complete understanding of the perspective of Native students.
My research examined the educational experiences of Native undergraduate students in the life sciences and earth sciences. My background as an undergraduate allowed me to experience an introduction to academic language and practices that emphasized the restrictive standards of western education highlighted earlier. Additionally, students in life and earth science are more likely to face direct benefits from alternative ways of knowing, such as implementing place-based learning (Kawagley & Barnhardt, 1998). My data set drew on responses from 30 surveys and 5 PE interviews. The surveys were designed under the guidance of Indigenous advisors and used a Likert scale with items on topics such as family support, sense of belonging, and desire to contribute to Native communities. The survey topics helped develop a baseline understanding of the perspective of the overall participants, which was furthered by PE interview data. PE interviews focused on utilizing the photos created by participants to focus conversation to understand the supports and barriers in a Native person's experience in STEM. They also discussed how the intersection of various identities affect their experience. The usage of photos allows for the interviewee to discuss deeper connections and emotions. They can also reveal new information that can be missed by the initial survey or by traditional researcher-centered interviews. PE interviews allow for power dynamics to be reoriented, as the participant can lead the interview rather than the researcher (Harper, 2002).
Kanaka (a pseudonym) was one of the participants from the dataset. She is a Native Hawaiian undergraduate in Environmental Engineering. Many of her quotes provided eloquent summaries of what was seen throughout the dataset. Kanaka was very descriptive of her identities and their effect in her academic and personal journeys. This case study of Kanaka highlights many of her relations and struggles, while maintaining an understanding of the overall data set. This allows for a personal conception of the present data to be formed to further the understanding of Native experiences in life and earth sciences.
I utilized Kirkness and Barnhardt’s (1991) theoretical framework of the 4R’s – respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility – along with Brayboy’s (2005) TribalCrit to complete a full analysis of the data. TribalCrit focuses on centering the perspective of the Indigenous participants to draw an informed and accurate conclusion based on their experiences. The 4R’s were used to assist the analysis in understanding institutional and academic changes that can be made to further representation with academia and science.
Descriptive analysis of quantitative data and thematic analysis of qualitative data were applied. The interviews were coded to understand the common themes presented by each participant. The survey information from the life and earth sciences group was compared to the overall data. Survey analysis also compared the responses of students in Tribal Colleges and Universities vs. in predominately white institutions. This analysis indicated that life and earth science undergraduates saw a disconnect between their Native values and the education of western science, which is exemplified by the distinct and articulate interview data provided by Kanaka.
Kanaka described struggling with her multiple identities throughout her interview. She often focused on the disparity she felt between them and how this affected her development in STEM. Kanaka shared:
The way that western science is done, I mean, that’s why we exploit and destroy our natural world is cause we don’t relate to it at all in western society. It’s nothing more than just something for us to use. There’s no sense of love or responsibility or accountability.
Figure 1. Lab Box by Kanaka
Through her lens as a Native STEM student at a predominantly white institution, Kanaka expressed the consequences of an educational background entrenched in western science ways of knowing. These consequences have broad implications for research practices and the implementation of innovative technologies, such as restricting the development of scientific understanding and solutions as well as dismissing Native ways of thinking and knowing.
At the time of her first PE interview, Kanaka was an undergraduate student studying Environmental Engineering. As a Native Hawaiian, she established and discussed her perspective on the interconnection of her identity and western society in eloquent, descriptive quotes. Her connection to her Native identity allowed her to make meaningful cultural connections to her field of study. She expressed:
My ancestors were engineers … A fishpond is a really great example of a food system that was engineered that is really sustainable and really good for the environment and gives back as much as it takes, if not gives back more. And I think that that’s one way of knowing and thinking about how science has existed before it’s become science, within my people and culture.
Figure 2. Lo'i by Kanaka
In this example, Kanaka assessed how scientific understanding existed in Native cultures beyond the western understanding of science and used it to bridge back to her identity. Kanaka, like many other participants, connected with her field of study by utilizing concepts that are more significant than what is typically present within western education, such as her ancestral connections, which motivated her participation in STEM.
At times, these alternative connections experienced by Native students can lead to feeling a need to advocate for Native ways of knowing within the discipline. Kanaka shared:
A lot of what fuels me is anger and fear. Anger that scientific practices contribute largely to the displacement and erasure of my people, and fear that we will lose or never get back what little we have left. Being in STEM is my defense, offense, and torment.
Figure 3. What Next? by Kanaka
She expressed a level of motivation rooted in her identity due to the oppressive standards within western science. This, in turn, led to her approaching her education in terms of advocacy. This inadvertently placed a larger burden on her shoulders as she navigated her field of study in terms of her Native understanding of science. Within this quote, Kanaka highlighted the colonial precedents that come with learning under a system that prioritizes western education, by expressing the anger and fear that come with being inside of a system that has been historically harmful to her community. This perspective inherently divided Kanaka’s identity as a Native person and as a scientist; this fragmentation can lead to harm in her position within her STEM identity. She expressed this in the last part of her quote, by stating that, “Being in STEM is my defense, offense, and torment.” In this, she expressed how her STEM identity is fragmented by her Native understanding of science and how it leads to a feeling of needing to defend both her identities despite torment that it might cause.
Kanaka also reflected on how many of these systematic burdens could harm the non-Native community attending her university. Kanaka discussed the gaps within higher education, which can be undetectable by non-Native students within a traditional western educational system. She stated:
I wish that [non-Native students] knew how incomplete their education is ... They take everything as it is, and that’s really scary. I wish, probably more than anything else that they like— Not even that they understood how we felt, but that there’s gaps. This is not perfect, and they’re not finding everything right here.
This quote emphasizes how Kanaka sees and experiences the gaps within higher education, specifically highlighting how limiting western educational systems can be for both dominant and non-dominant groups since they do not incorporate non-western knowledge. These gaps can lead to one consistent narrative of science within academia without acknowledging alternative knowledge systems that might be present. Kanaka’s perspective shows how a broader educational system that incorporates multiple epistemologies can provide benefits to every student attending the institution. The creation of a broader system can lead to a more open and innovative space for students because it loosens the restrictions on what appropriate education and science look like.
Overall, the western value of anthropocentric progression often devalues cultural precedents set by Indigenous people. Native knowledge systems, which are focused on the observations of the natural world, have taught us that the earth is molded on the interdependence and cooperation of all species (Kawagley & Barnhardt, 1998). Incorporating Native knowledge systems in academia would benefit both Native and non-Native students, as it would expand educational opportunities and discussions of injustice (Kawagley & Barnhardt, 1998). Kanaka expressed and reflected on this point, acknowledging how her Native understanding can provide non-Native students the ability to understand gaps within their education. Kanaka, and other participants, also discussed the perceived colonial harm enacted by the continuous, exclusionary use of the western educational systems and expressed how these often place burdens, such as Kanaka feeling as if her identities were opposing or imposed a requirement for advocacy, which affects her ability to exist within the intersection of her identities.
When western and Native realms of scientific thought are equally respected and taught with responsibility within institutions, then each of them can be employed to create a scientific discipline that is more representative of the populations it is serving. This will also lead to Native students facing less burden, as they can navigate their STEM education with other students instead of developing opposition between their identities. Therefore, in a diversified educational system, Native undergraduate students may find greater connection between their Native values and STEM education, and this system will also allow other majority students the space to connect to new understandings within the scientific discipline.
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