Science, much like every other subject being taught in school, needs to be geared towards the students. Students need to be able to connect what they learn to what they have seen around them and only then will they see a point in learning. A very simple, yet unspoken connection that could be made in science classrooms across Ontario is practices related to Indigenous Knowledge (Zidny & Eilks, 2020). Indigenous Knowledge (IK) has a wealth of information that can easily be connected to curriculum expectations, and is based on the lived experiences of many, however these connections seem to be lacking in practice.

Though research suggests there is the benefit, need and importance of making these Indigenous connections within our classes, no real attempt has been noted in Ontario. Ontario’s curriculum lacks in meaningful Indigenous Knowledge connection, with only 0.3% of the chemistry curriculum presenting IK connections (Kim, 2016). Evidently, there is a gap here in Ontario’s efforts to make science more applicable for students through the incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge, which is the goal of this study.

This research study aims to answer the following central question: How can Ontario secondary science teachers integrate Indigenous Knowledge into their everyday lessons to make science more relatable for all students? In order to holistically answer this question, the following subsidiary questions will be considered as well: What Indigenous Knowledge connections do we already see in the current secondary science curriculum? What Indigenous Knowledge connections do current science teachers make that are not in the curriculum? What supports do non-Indigenous identifying science teachers need, to make more Indigenous Knowledge connections?

As a teacher candidate in Ontario, my concern with the current science curriculum is the lack of perspectives being presented to our students. I believe that science may be perceived differently by everyone and our curriculum should be representative of that. Our teachers need to be more aware of the different cultural sciences and acknowledge that there may be similarities and differences between what is taught in school and what a student may believe. As someone who doesn't identify as Indigenous, I feel that in order to present a holistic view of science to my students, Indigenous Knowledge needs to be highlighted.