Author Archives: Jacey Bell

Module 2 (Post 5) – School science from the eyes of the Woodlands Cree

The following paper is written from the perspective of an educator and a member of the Barren Lands Cree Nation, who grew up on the eastern shore of Reindeer Lake in Saskatchewan. It aims to provide a guide to including cultural content in science education. Throughout our readings and discussions, we have learned a lot about the value of place-based education and culturally relevant education. Although not aimed at post-secondary science classrooms, I still think the content is valuable as many of my Indigenous students come from northern Saskatchewan communities.

Michell, H. (2012). School science from the eyes of the Woodlands Cree: Using the migawap dwelling and traditional values as a guide to plot fundamental key concepts and ideas. The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, 32(2), 19-49.

Module 2 (Post 3) – Indigenous Science Division of Environment and Climate Change Canada

While searching for resources about Indigenous science, I discovered that earlier this year Environment and Climate Change Canada started an official Indigenous Science Division (ISD). Dr. Myrle Ballard, an Anishinaabe scholar at the University of Manitoba, is leading the division using the framework of Three-eyed Seeing. I am excited to see a federal ministry taking steps towards reconciliation and hopefully decolonizing the science that informs government environmental decisions.

The ISD has a beautiful logo that represents Bridging, Braiding, and Weaving. I was unable to find the information on whether or not I could post it without copyright infringement. I did find a neat option to download a QR code that should take you directly to the image, though!

Module 2 (Post 2) – Instructor’s Guide to Including TEK in Undergraduate Biology

This paper, which was published online just one month ago today, provides suggestions to biology instructors for including Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) into their courses.

From the abstract: “Suggestions include exploring other ways of knowing, teaching holistically, establishing a classroom culture of respect, explicitly including TEK, consulting Indigenous experts, incorporating Indigenous languages, and using other evidence-based teaching practices.” (Greenall & Bailey, 2022).

I was excited to find this resource and plan to share it with my colleagues.

Greenall, R.F., & Bailey, E.G. (2022). An instructor’s guide to including Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the undergraduate biology classroom. CBE-Life Sciences Education 21(4). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.21-12-0340

Module 2 (Post 1) – Living Knowledge

The Living Knowledge Project is an Australian-based research project that was developed to find the most effective way to integrate indigenous knowledge into the secondary science curriculum. The page that I have linked to here is dedicated to the history of ‘both ways’ education, where students are exposed to a mixture of western and indigenous education.

https://livingknowledge.anu.edu.au/html/educators/07_bothways.htm

Module 1 (Post 5) – Connecting with students in remote locations

While following links from my previous post, I found information about a program called Connected North that uses communication technology to reach students in remote Indigenous communities. The idea is to give youth access to First Nations, Inuit, and Metis role models that can help the students understand the applications of what they learn in school and give them opportunities for meaningful connections with professionals in a variety of fields as well as students in other locations. According to the site, a majority of teachers find the program helps engage their students. I am excited to read some more about this program and see if there is the potential to use this type of technology to help my soon-to-be first year undergraduate students prepare for university.

 

Module 1 (Post 4) – Celebrating Indigeneity in Science

Celebrating Indigeneity in Science

This webpage was created as the result of a virtual discussion hosted by Wilfred Laurier University on International Women’s Day in 2021. The Laurier Centre for Women in Science (WinS) welcomed indigenous women scholars to share their work and personal stories and collected the information in to a number of resources with the intent of “building a vibrant and inclusive scientific community.” I have enjoyed browsing the various resources here and thought you might too. My hope is that at least one of them will be relevant to your teaching practice. I know there are few that I will refer to in future as I teach undergraduate science labs!

Module 1 (Post 3) – Decolonizing Undergraduate Chemistry

I came across this recent paper in the Journal of Chemistry Education that gives an account of York University’s approach to decolonizing the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. It seems that many institutions talk about taking steps towards decolonizing courses, but I have had difficulty finding guidance of how to do this effectively in a post-secondary science department. This paper outlines some of the steps that are being taken to shift the narrative of the courses away from solely a western view of science.

In one example, instructors of a colloidal chemistry course included a discussion of ancient Egyptian codification of knowledge of papyrus. While this is a relatively small step, the instructor is acknowledging that science has been happening by peoples all over the globe for longer than the western view of science has existed.

 

 

Dessent, C.E., Dawood, R.A., Jones, L.C., Matharu, A.S., Smith, D.K., & Uleanya, K.O. (2022). Decolonizing the undergraduate chemistry curriculum: An account of how to start. Journal of Chemical Education, 99(1), 5-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00397

Module 1 (Post 2) – Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science

In the following video, Dr. Leroy Little Bear discusses Indigenous knowledge and western science at a talk in Banff. He is wonderful speaker and connects quantum physics to his Blackfoot knowledge. He uses humour and familiar characters (such as the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland) to explain complex ideas. The most important message I took away from the talk was that Indigenous science and western science are both legitimate sciences and are really just different ways of looking at and describing natural processes.

What I liked about the video is that it is engaging and helps broaden the understanding that different ways of knowing are all valid. There are some differences in how cultures look at the world, but in the end, we are all striving to understand the same thing.

Module 1 (Post 1): A dialogue about decolonizing science education

 

The website linked to the image above has a recording of a discussion with three panelists (Dr. Gregory Cajete, Dr. Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams, and Skye Augustine) about decolonizing science education and practicing indigenous science. If his name sounds familiar, it may be because Dr. Cajete was cited by some of the authors in our module 1 readings. The dialogue is the 13th in a series that were organized by the Reconciling Ways of Knowing Stewardship Society during 2020 and 2021 to continue the conversation about reconciliation despite the pandemic. Each of the panelists has a unique set of experiences to share and helps to broaden our understanding of how to include Indigenous ways of knowing in science and science education.