From Indigenous Knowledge to Higher-Order Learning: A Systematic Review of Ethnoscience, Contextual Learning Resources, and Knowledge Integration in African Education

Abstract

African Indigenous Knowledge has growing educational relevance, yet its relationship with higher-order learning remains fragmented across disciplines, pedagogies, and evidence types. This systematic thematic synthesis examined how Indigenous Knowledge is recontextualised through ethnoscience, transformed into contextual learning resources, integrated with formal disciplinary knowledge, and associated with higher-order learning in African education. Scopus-indexed peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2026 were screened using a PRISMA-informed process, yielding 37 unique studies from 2,608 records. Evidence was organised into four themes: educational recontextualisation, contextual learning resources and pedagogies, higher-order learning outcomes, and enabling or constraining conditions. Findings indicate that Indigenous Knowledge supports meaningful learning when it moves beyond symbolic inclusion toward contextual integration, knowledge co-production, and epistemic participation. Contextual resources become educationally consequential when appropriately activated through dialogue, inquiry, cooperative learning, project-based learning, and cognitively demanding tasks. Direct evidence for metacognition, critical thinking, inferential reasoning, reflection, creative interpretation, and epistemic agency was promising but limited. The review proposes an Ethnoscience-to-Higher-Order Learning Framework in which cognitive outcomes depend on pedagogical mediation, cognitive demand, contextual resource design, and community participation.