Ethnoscience in Science Education in Indonesia: Curriculum Policy and Research Trend

Abstract

Indonesia is a country with cultural diversity and indigenous knowledge that has valuable resources for integrating the concept of ethnoscience. Ethnoscience is a high potential alternative approach to enhance students’ learning process and result. This study aims to analyze the policy about ethnoscience implementation in curriculum and research trend on the topic of ethnoscience. This is a qualitative study which utilizes content analysis methods for the curriculum policy documents. This study also combines the literature review and bibliometrics analysis for the ethnoscience research trend discussion. Based on the results, the policy about ethnoscience is accommodated and suggested in the Kurikulum Merdeka, the current education curriculum that has been implemented extensively in Indonesia since 2022. Then, 355 papers were obtained during the period 2014-2023 about Ethnoscience in Indonesia. The trend in the number of publications has increased from 2014 and witnessed a drastic increase in 2023. This study concludes that the implementation of ethnoscience is embedded by the Government through the curriculum policy. It is also supported by the research trend about ethnoscience that provides more resources for teachers to implement ethnoscience in the classroom including teaching materials, modules, worksheets, questions and tasks development, assessment rubrics, and other instruments. This paper results can be expected to encourage the implementation of ethnoscience in science learning and the development of ethnoscience studies in exploring more Indonesian culture.