6.1 Indigenous Students’ Learning of School Science: A Philosophical Interpretation

Abstract

It may be reasonable to claim that all educational research is philosophical. However, philosophy is also research in its own right – a form of inquiry that is more than beliefs or ideas which underpin educational research. In conducting philosophical inquiry, several strategies are employed such as concept analysis, ethics and deconstruction. Philosophy of education has concerned itself with how philosophical strategies can be brought to bear on educational phenomena such curriculum, teaching and learning. The focus of this chapter is on learning, a concept which has received some attention in philosophy of education over the last decade. Specifically, I shall report on an inquiry focusing on indigenous students' learning of school science. The inquiry examines the notion of collateral learning – the idea that indigenous students learn Western school science in parallel to learning about phenomena through indigenous ways without necessarily experiencing cognitive perturbation. In my interpretation I shall draw on Deleuzo-Guattarian concept creation as a philosophical strategy.