Science Education under a Totalitarian Theocracy: Analyzing the ISIS Primary Curriculum

Abstract: We conducted an unprecedented analysis of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) primary school science curriculum. The research question focuses on the general scientific quality of the five documents examined, the integration of religious content and the possible tensions between science and religion that result from including such material in the corpus. This content analysis also focuses on the ideological/political agenda that supports its content and structure. Conclusions argue that the ISIS science curriculum appears to be committed to an absolutist/theocratic ideological program that, among other things, promotes a very inadequate concept of scientific activity and content. Recommendations about secularization and the reconstruction of post-ISIS education systems are formulated.