Evidence-Based Inquiries in Ethno-STEM Research

<p> The purpose of the edited volume is to provide an international lens to examine evidence-based investigations in Ethno-STEM research: <em>Ethno-science</em> <em>Ethno-technology</em> <em>Ethno-engineering</em> and <em>Ethno-mathematics</em>. These themes grew out of multi-national multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary efforts to preserve as well as epitomize the role that Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) play in cognitive development and its vital contributions to successful and meaningful learning in conventional and non-conventional contexts. Principled by the Embodied Situated and Distributed Cognition (ESDC) this innovative book will provide evidence supporting the embeddedness of a thinking-in-acting model as a fundamental framework that explains and supports students' acquisition of scientific knowledge. </p><p>  </p><p>So often 'western' science curricula are experienced as irrelevant since it does not take cognizance of the daily experiences and world in which the learner finds himself. This book takes a socio-cultural look at IKS and applies research in neuroscience to make a case its incorporation in the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) classroom. We use the Embodied Situated Distributed Cognition (ESDC) Model as conceptual framework in this book.</p><p>  </p><p>Although the value of IKS is often acknowledged in curriculum policy documents teachers are most often not trained in incorporating IK in the classroom. Teachers' lack of the necessary pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in effectively incorporating IK in their classrooms is a tremendous problem internationally. Another problem is that IK is often perceived as pseudo-science and scholars advocating for the incorporation of IK in the school curriculum often do not contextualize their arguments within a convincing theoretical and conceptual framework. </p><p> </p>