Reframing Chemistry Education through Indigenous Knowledge: A Conceptual Model for Sustainable Chemistry Teaching in Ethiopia

Chemistry education in many African contexts remains strongly influenced by Western scientific traditions, often limiting connections between formal chemistry and learners’ sociocultural realities. In Ethiopia, indigenous practices such as fermentation, metallurgy, herbal medicine, pottery, water purification, soap making, and distillation represent systematic knowledge of material transformation developed through long-term interaction with local environments. However, indigenous knowledge is often integrated only as illustrative examples rather than as epistemically meaningful knowledge systems. This study develops a conceptual model for integrating Ethiopian indigenous knowledge into secondary chemistry education through a Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) of interdisciplinary literature on chemistry education, indigenous knowledge, curriculum theory, culturally responsive pedagogy, and sustainability education. The analysis identifies limitations in existing approaches and proposes a model that positions indigenous knowledge and school chemistry as distinct but dialogically connected systems. The model integrates three dimensions: contextual knowledge integration, inquiry-oriented culturally responsive pedagogy, and sustainability-oriented chemistry learning. Indigenous practices are presented as culturally situated processes of material transformation that provide meaningful entry points to concepts including chemical change, reaction processes, separation techniques, material properties, and biochemical transformations. The framework emphasizes pedagogical bridging, reflective inquiry, and community-linked learning while preserving the epistemological integrity of both knowledge systems. It argues for moving beyond symbolic inclusion toward critically mediated curriculum reform that recognizes indigenous knowledge as an active contributor to knowledge construction. The model contributes to chemistry curriculum reform, teacher education, and inclusive, context-sensitive, and sustainability-oriented science education in Ethiopia and comparable contexts.