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The problem is that this isn't the only news about a wacky new science curriculum. There's also the attempt to shoehorn "Matauranga Maori" - Maori (the indigen

The problem is that this isn't the only news about a wacky new science curriculum. There's also the attempt to shoehorn "Matauranga Maori" - Maori (the indigenous people of NZ) "ways of knowing" in there. https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/12/19/what-are-maori-ways-of-knowing-and-should-they-be-taught-in-science-class-as-coequal-to-modern-science/ https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/12/19/what-are-maori-way... I get the feeling the people dreaming this stuff up don't know what science is or why anyone might care about it. If it's going to be severely watered down, why bother teaching it at all? (throwaway account, this is a hot button topic in NZ)

Affric 3y ago
It’s a well written piece but I think (in a similar vein to that article) a lot of it is driven by the codification and deification of “Science”. Given down to children, their heads filled with our best theories. There are different systems for generating information. Knowledge”, and therefore “Science”, are dangerous words. Our modern Western Liberal colonial societies don’t have it all figured out but have a hegemony that often chafes indigenous peoples. I think we would be better recasting what we teach, and what we try to teach as Empiricism or something similar. Frame it around experimentation. Frame it around students own desire to learn and share their learnings. Go after the “why?” that they love so much. I think it’s at once compatible with non “Science” knowledge systems, cultivates curiosity, and engenders that which creates knowledge. It also protects empiricism from the urge some have to deny what lends authority to good science.
tjpnz 3y ago
I hope my High School science teachers are long since retired because I couldn't imagine them suffering through this bullshit. But if the Ministry of Education is fine teaching religion perhaps they should also consider including Intelligent Design and Gaia Hypothesis too.

Affric 3y ago

It’s a well written piece but I think (in a similar vein to that article) a lot of it is driven by the codification and deification of “Science”. Given down to children, their heads filled with our best theories. There are different systems for generating information. Knowledge”, and therefore “Science”, are dangerous words. Our modern Western Liberal colonial societies don’t have it all figured out but have a hegemony that often chafes indigenous peoples. I think we would be better recasting what we teach, and what we try to teach as Empiricism or something similar. Frame it around experimentation. Frame it around students own desire to learn and share their learnings. Go after the “why?” that they love so much. I think it’s at once compatible with non “Science” knowledge systems, cultivates curiosity, and engenders that which creates knowledge. It also protects empiricism from the urge some have to deny what lends authority to good science.

tjpnz 3y ago

I hope my High School science teachers are long since retired because I couldn't imagine them suffering through this bullshit. But if the Ministry of Education is fine teaching religion perhaps they should also consider including Intelligent Design and Gaia Hypothesis too.