Intercultural science education requires negotiations between knowledge systems and of tensions between them. Building on ethnographic fieldwork and educational interventions in two farming communities in the Northeast of Brazil, we explore the potential of science education to mediate between traditional and academic knowledge. While traditional knowledge shapes agricultural practices and interactions with the environment in the villages of Coração de Maria and Retiro, academic knowledge is emphasized in biology education. On the basis of philosophical debates about “partial overlaps” between epistemologies, ontologies and value systems, we analyze relations between traditional and academic ecological knowledge in these communities and argue that they can inform reflective practices in intercultural dialogue. By investigating biology education as a “trading zone” between knowledge systems, we analyze how partial overlaps become negotiated in educational practices in rural Brazil and provide the basis for educational interventions that foster intercultural dialogue.

跨文化科学教育需要知识体系之间的谈判以及它们之间的紧张关系。基于巴西东北部两个农业社区的人种志田野调查和教育干预，我们探索了科学教育在传统知识和学术知识之间进行调解的潜力。传统知识影响着科拉索·德·玛丽亚（Coraçãode Maria）和雷蒂罗（Rettiro）村庄的农业实践并与环境互动，而生物学教育则强调学术知识。在关于认识论，本体论和价值体系之间的“部分重叠”的哲学辩论的基础上，我们分析了这些社区中传统和学术生态知识之间的关系，并认为它们可以为跨文化对话中的反思性实践提供信息。