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(The Australian a écrit :Curriculum puts Dreamtime first

SCHOOL students will learn about Aboriginal Dreamtime stories, Chinese medicine and natural therapies but not meet the periodic table of elements until Year 10 under the new national science curriculum.

The curriculum, obtained by The Weekend Australian, directs that students from primary school through to Year 10 be taught the scientific knowledge of different cultures, primarily indigenous culture, including sustainable land use and traditional technologies.

The indigenous strand is part of a topic called Science and Culture examining different cultural groups and their perspectives on science.

The curriculum, to be released on Monday for public consultation, sets out a course of study from kindergarten to Year 10 that takes in physics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences but teaches them as one rather than in separate disciplines.

The curriculum is organised into three inter-related strands of science: inquiry skills, about the collection of data; science as a human endeavour, about the history and nature of science; and science understanding, which teaches fundamental concepts.

Australian scientists and their discoveries are prominent in the curriculum, with students at different years learning about Nobel Prize-winners including Ian Frazer and the cervical cancer vaccine, Alexander Fleming and Howard Florey and the rise of penicillin and antibiotics, as well as scientists such as Graeme Clarke and the bionic ear. The curriculum has had to take account of the different year levels for high school, which starts in Year 8 in some states and Year 7 elsewhere, and as a result the curriculums for those years are more general in content, covering public health guidelines, the law and science, sustainability and recycling, with less experiment-based work than in some existing state curriculums.

The periodic table of elements is not introduced until Year 10, when the curriculum is packed with scientific ideas including DNA, genetics, evolution, the universe and plate tectonics.

"Specific knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is incorporated where it relates to science and relevant phenomena, particularly knowledge and understanding of nature and of sustainable practices," it says. "For example, systematic observations by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures over many generations of the sequence of various natural events contribute to our scientific understanding of seasons in Australia."

Primary students will look at traditional bush tucker and natural remedies used in indigenous cultures as well as the use of fire to promote new plant growth and their strategies for finding water. For Year 4 students, the curriculum says they should research "historical examples of different cultures' knowledge about the national environment and living things (e.g. Aboriginal peoples' Dreamtime stories that explain significant characteristics of the Earth's surface and interactions between living things)".

The curriculum for Year 7 directs that students research "Aboriginal X-ray art to investigate Aboriginal knowledge of the internal biology and physiological processes of animals" as well as "traditional Chinese knowledge of the structure and function of human body systems".

In Year 8, students will discuss "traditional stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as a basis for understanding complex ecosystems at local and regional levels" and through "personal interaction or stories" research the "special relationship" of indigenous people with the land and its flora and fauna.