While searching for information about Traditional Ecological Knowledge in post-secondary for my final project, I discovered a hands-on science field course that was developed in partnership between the University of Windsor and the Walpole Island First Nation. Part of my excitement about this stems from the recent news that I may be able to participate in my department’s annual biology field course as a botany instructor in the coming years. I would very much like to implement activities for the students that focus on respect and understanding of the local landscape and was inspired by approach that is described in the video below.
Tag Archives: Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Module 3 (Post 3) – Meshing Laboratory Science with Traditional Ecological Knowledge
The following article by Natalie Rademacher discusses post secondary educators who are combining their laboratory science courses with Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Some of the educators who are named include Gregory Cajete, who we know from our course readings, and Samantha Chisholm Hatfield, who teaches at Oregon State University.
From the article:
“By meshing laboratory science with Traditional Ecological Knowledge, college professors aim to cultivate better environmental decision makers — and decisions.”
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