Incorporating Indigenous knowledge, traditions and stories into STEM education must be a collective goal, where Elders, parents, students, communities, organizations, educators, schools, and the general public work together to create a culturally responsive and culturally inclusive environment. As education and educational technologies continue to change, the living Indigenous knowledge implementations in the field of education should continue to be evaluated and analyzed. As we saw in course discussions, there have been cases of increased community control over school curriculum that has resulted in a positive change in creating a culturally responsive educational environment. Although this may not be possible in all educational settings, I am confident to say that incorporating the cultural standards in STEM education will be able to create meaningful learning environments for students. The ANKN (1998) guide for culturally responsive schools is a fantastic resource to use as a checklist for achieving this.
Indigenous STEM is a broad avenue and there are many different pedagogical and implementation strategies to plan, design and facilitate Indigenous STEM education. Throughout the course, discussions and my blog posts, I have come to understand that facilitating culturally responsive curriculum and/or instructions is essential in creating an inclusive learning environment. Students should be provided opportunities to explore their cultural values, discuss their perspectives with others, and learn about their community and the local environment and its’ connection to their lives. This way, they can be engaged in meaningful education where the demonstration of learning is a reflection of their identity and their culture. I am hoping that my final project can act as a useful classroom resource and/or provide some guidance for creating a culturally responsive and inclusive classroom for our learners.
I really enjoyed organizing and planning for my final project with blog posts. It was a valuable experience and I also liked reading everyone else’s posts as well. There were a lot of project topics I thought were very interesting and I look forward to seeing everyone’s final projects! Good luck everyone!
References
Alaska Native Knowledge Network (ANKN). (1998, February 3). Alaska standards for culturally-responsive schools. http://ankn.uaf.edu/Publications/culturalstandards.pdf