A systematic review on culturally relevant science teaching: Trends and insights

Abstract

The United Nation Sustainable Development Goal of quality education for ALL (Goal 4), calls for each country to ensure inclusive and equitable education for their citizens. In addition, Goal 4 also advocates that quality education should ensure that each individual is provided lifelong learning opportunities as a means to continuously address the challenges of being a citizen in a global society. In this regard, providing inclusive and equitable quality science education should be the focus, particularly among developing countries. Equity in science education is not a new educational concept, despite being intensively studied by researchers in the west; it has captured less the attention especially from educators in the Asian countries. Therefore, it is imperative to identify the state of the art of equity in science education in Asian countries to achieve SDG vision and for future research and policy implications consideration. A systematic literature review is conducted to critically analyze and synthesis the current trends in culturally relevant science curriculum research in Asia. Several databases such as Taylor and Francis, Springer Link, Sage E-Journal and Wiley were searched for articles on culturally relevant curriculum in Asia within 2010-2018 time frame. It is hoped that the findings of this study will be a useful resource for educators in designing authentic and meaningful science learning experiences that is culturally relevant to the students’ backgrounds, needs and interests. Furthermore, it is hoped that this study will provide a clear vision and strategy for establishing meaningful learning partnership between stakeholders in addressing inclusive and equitable science education.