Tag Archives: indigenous knowledge

M4P5: AlbertaEd – Walking Together & Talking Together

Alberta Education created a very comprehensive and interactive guide called Walking Together that provides educators with the necessary resources needed to incorporate FNMI perspectives into the curriculum.

One of my goals in my final project is to create a teacher self-reflection tool to determine which Indigenous perspectives are addressed in a particular lesson. The self-reflection tool would be a circle, similar to the front page of Walking Together, with the perspectives around the outside divided into pie pieces and then specific keywords underneath each perspective, to help guide the teacher in really analyzing their lessons.

I think this resource could also be used as a student activity, perhaps with the student reflecting on how the participation in the activity aligned with Indigenous perspectives. The student version would have student friendly language and offer sentence starter prompts for each perspective/keyword.

However, before introducing this self-reflection tool, students and teachers would both need to have an awareness of Indigenous knowledge and these various perspectives before the tool would be used meaningfully. I plan on creating an interactive multimodal game where these perspectives will be explored as a part of my final project.

M4P4: MathCatcher – Meet Small Number

“Mathematics Through Aboriginal Story Telling”

MathCatchers is an outreach program for educators and learners, encouraging numeracy through storytelling, pictures, and hands-on learning. They created a character named “Small Number” who ‘engage(s) Aboriginal learners in math and science through the use of First Nations imagery and storytelling.’ Through various videos, the opportunity for various discussions about anything from basic counting and pattern recognition to exponential growth and probability permutations and combinations. These videos will serve as a foundational part of my final project, with many Alberta curriculum pieces being tied to various sections of the video. I envision these videos being part of the regular classroom routine, with students constantly being brought back to the story and encouraged to dig deeper into the math and culture embedded within.

“The main character in our animations thus far is a boy called Small Number. He is a bright, playful kid, with the ability to recognize patterns and calculate quickly.”

M3P4: Mi’kmaq Immersion School

A quote that stood out to me in this video was said by the teacher:

“I don’t know how you expect me to teach young kids their own culture when I don’t even know anything about my own culture.”

Culturally responsive education is important in the revitalization of Indigenous cultures. This video explores how a Mi’kmaq school in Manitoba has achieved “total immersion in language, culture, and community.” The school focuses on math and reading skills. The teacher interviewed spoke about how he has come to remember his “why” for teaching and has also been able to learn so much more about himself and his own culture in the process. I chose to include this video because it affirms the importance of cultural immersion and serves as a model for other programs.

This screenshot shows young students learning about the Mi’kmaq sweat lodge and singing the Mi’kmaq ‘Honor Song.”

M3P3: Indigenous Storywork Protocols

“Educating Heart, Mind, Body & Spirit”

I came across this site after reading about Dr. Jo-ann Archibald’s Indigenous Storywork framework. It shares various resources for educators but also for the public, and it also highlights and shows respect for the Elders who contributed to the website. The educator resources are not typical lesson plans, but rather they are a set of questions that create a framework Indigenous story telling; Dr. Archibald poses many questions that help guide and prepare educators for various protocols for using Indigenous stories. One important protocol she outlines is to acknowledge the storyteller, and the Indigenous culture from which the storyteller is a member, and then provides some contextual and cultural background for the story. This is a good entry point for me to be able to include Indigenous stories in my own teaching practice.

Module 4, Post 3 | Weaving Indigenous and western knowledge

An article focusing on the growing interest in educational and research institutions across the country embracing a holistic approach to its scientific methods, which integrates Indigenous knowledge with classroom teaching methods to decolonize education.

A response to the TRC’s Calls to Action, this collaboration reinforces the cultural values of Indigenous knowledge and highlights applicability across a broad range of subjects.

https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/weaving-indigenous-and-western-knowledge/

Decolonizing Reflexive Practice Through Photo Essay (M4P5)

The coming school year will be the first time I teach Photography 11/12, and I am hoping this resource will help me prepare for that. The paper, Decolonizing Reflexive Practice Through Photo Essay Aisinai’pi Storying Place (Walsh et al., 2018) outlines a photo essay project that situates the students’ identities with place. A photo essay is “a series of images evoking stories of original peoples and settlers on this land and fuels important questions about identity and belongingness” (p. 103).

An example of a photo essay, representing the importance of (controlled) burns for healthy ecosystems.

In the paper, the authors describe using a photo essay of the City of Calgary to orient students with Indigenous worldviews and a sense of place. Each photo has a theme, and many interconnect. For each photo, they asked students key questions, such as:

Who originally occupied this land?
How do Eurocentric societies and Indigenous societies understand Mother Earth?
What are your beliefs about live-giving forces?
What promotes health and wellness?
How do you understand the notion of all entities to be interconnected and interdependent?
etc.

I think this could be a valuable way to introduce students to both photo essays and to local history. You could extend the learning by having students create their own place-based photo essays.

Reference:

Walsh, C. A., St-Denis, N., & Eagle Bear, A. (2018). Decolonizing Reflexive Practice Through Photo Essay Aisinai’pi Storying Place. Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.18733/cpi29376

Module 3- Post 5: Combining Indigenous knowledge with science to fight climate change

To tackle a problem as large as climate change, we need both science and Indigenous wisdom, says environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim. In this engaging talk, she shares how her nomadic community in Chad is working closely with scientists to restore endangered ecosystems — and offers lessons on how to create more resilient communities.

M3, P4: Traditional Knowledge Licenses

Most post-secondary learners and staff are familiar (or are becoming increasingly familiar) with license labels for materials (e.g., CC, CC-NC, CCbySA). TK labels are an educational intervention to identify traditional knowledge resources, their original, intended and ongoing uses, and protocols and practices for use. This video (above) introduces core colonial issues around theft of Indigenous materials and knowledge, reconciling practices, and introduces TK labels as an education tool for the future. However, there are inherent issues with the use of blanket labels without local context. One TK label for all TK knowledge resources treats all Indigenous Peoples knowledge as one shared knowledge, which disregards the locality and place-based nature of the knowledge. The resources below address provide more information on TK labels and the issues presented by the use of one label for all TK resources.

Creative Commons– Traditional Knowledge and the Commons: The Open Movement, Listening, and Learning

UBC Program for Open Scholarly and Education — Traditional Knowledge Licenses & Labels

We teach and provide support for licensing in academic libraries. Knowing labels and being familiar with the parameters of labeling systems and potential issues related to labels and licenses is an important area of professional knowledge. There resources would be valuable for professional development and would help library staff better support students and faculty in their work.

M.3 P.5 Braiding Sweetgrass

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a botanist, trained to engage with the environment using the tools of science however, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. “Drawing on her life as an Indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.” She has written scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge, and restoration ecology.

Kimmerer discusses alternative forms of Indigenous knowledge outside of traditional scientific methodologies. Focusing on plants, she compares a Traditional Ecological approach and a Western science approach. This book has popped up for me in many areas lately, and I think the timing is perfect to engage with this text and learn from an Indigenous scientist about my research paper. Continuing to learn about sustainable land stewardship by interweaving TEK and Western science has been an interesting journey and I beleive will better me as an educator.

Kimmerer said about the book that “I wanted readers to understand that Indigenous knowledge and Western science are both powerful ways of knowing, and that by using them together we can imagine a more just and joyful relationship with the Earth.”

References

Kimmerer, R. W. (n.d). Robin Wall Kimmerer [webpage]. Retrieved July 3, 2021. https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/books

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding Sweetgrass; Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions.

M.3 P.4 Indigenous STEAM

Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics resources for families, teachers, and communities.

The ISTEAM collaborative is supporting Indigenous resurgence through (re)making relations with lands, waters, and each other towards just, sustainable, and culturally thriving futures.

“The Indigenous STEAM Collaborative is a group of researchers and educators that engages in cognitive and community co-design research to advance general knowledge, develop pedagogical approaches for engaging youth in land and water-based learning, and provide learning materials to Indigenous families.”

I found this resource interesting, engaging, and very accessible. Heading include tools and resources, learning opportunities, and most excitingly under ‘Learning Activities’ you can find discussions on Indigenous science, Indigenous pedagogy, Indigenous observing, the relationships with other environmental aspects, and includes detailed activities for various arcs (birds, mammals, technology, water, fish, plants, etc) and connects it to stories. (*click on the image below to access an interactive map to lead to activities and downloadable pdfs*).

This program was “designed to create the conditions under which resurgence of Indigenous knowledge systems thrive.” I think this resource will be a useful tool for educators and for my research project, as I can combine my knowledge as an educator and learn new activities to see Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowlege in action – with tangible lessons.

References

ISTEAM Collaborative, (2020). Indigenous Steam. National Science Foundation. https://indigenoussteam.org/