Public school curriculum that integrates multiple subjects has become increasingly popular as it has the potential to enhance contexts for learning and the notion of “just in time” pedagogies. Arguably, in science education, more recent initiatives have capitalized on earlier emphasis on socially important questions. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is one such innovation in curriculum but it debatably still arises from euro-centric approaches to science education. In the Canadian context, a national interest in recognizing and honoring Indigenous ways of living and knowing has emerged. This study looks at comparing the foundations of euro-centric science and Indigenous ways of living with mother earth. More specifically, it examines the potential to blend STEM-like approaches to curriculum with recent attempts at more culturally sensitive curriculum within the Indigenous context. Interviews of Indigenous leaders and an examination of multiple Indigenous science curricular units by pre-service teachers has formed the basis for the discussion herein. The research has established that philosophical differences in euro-centric and Indigenous approaches to science are significant, yet their remains promise that a stance of “caretakers of the environment” might provide avenues for overlap in some aspects of these distinctly different predispositions to science education.

Keywords: STEM, Eurocentric Science, Indigenous Science.