Weblog #1

Combining the View of Both World in Inuktitut: Place Based Science Education in Qikiqtani (Brian Lewthwaite and Barbara McMillan, University of Manitoba)

The link below Canadian Council on Learning’s website and goes through the aboriginal projects they have funded.  The project I have above his project was based in three Inuit communities in the Qikiqtani (Baffin Island) Region of Nunavut. The project involved the translation into Inuktitut of the science teaching resources currently being developed by researchers in collaboration with Inuit teachers that combine the views of both contemporary science and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangi. Many of the other projects were done in regards to language revitalization and place based learning for those who are interested in these topics for their final project.

http://www.ccl-cca.ca/ccl/Research/FundedResearch/project-funding-AboriginalLearning.html

Weblog #2

http://www.uvm.edu/place/community/pbe.php

http://promiseofplace.org/

These two websites discuss place based learning and education.  I thought they fit in with the last week’s discussion about authenticity and “wannabees” as all through the week I have been thinking about whether adopting more indigenous principles like place based learning is a form of being a “wannabee”.  Both of these sites are not run by indigenous groups or aboriginals.  The first link discusses an author Richard Louv who has written several books one of which is titled “Last Child in the woods”.

Weblog #3

http://www.ecoliteracy.org/strategies/place-based-learning

This website also discusses place based learning and the importance of participating within their communities and their environment. Successful place based programs include the following:

• Learning takes students out of the classroom and into the community and natural environment.
• Projects have consequences; students’ contributions make a difference to environmental quality and to the well-being of communities.
• Students are encouraged to view their community as an ecosystem and to understand the relationships and processes necessary to support healthy living.
• By mapping their school and its surrounding community, students create visual representations of the systems nested within larger systems that constitute their local place in its wholeness

Weblog #4

http://straightupnorth.ca/Sikuliriji/GH-ProjInfo_files/GH-Project-Summary.pdf

This link is to an abstract of a research project entitled “Connecting Inuit Elders and Youth: Learning about caribou, community, and well-being”.  It was conducted between Carleton University, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, and the community of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut between May 2011 and March 2014.  The abstract discusses that “Inuit culture and language are thus inextricably tied to place, as stories of places and journeys were woven into the social and cultural fabric of Inuit life.”  The purpose of the project was to explore the value of elder-youth land camps as a means of fostering inter-generational knowledge transfer and conceptualizing Inuit research methodologies.

Weblog #5

https://indspire.ca/programs/gathering-place/

This last weblog is to a website and a program called gathering place.  The website states that Gathering Place is a clearinghouse of practices evaluated by seven principles created by consultation with national Indigenous scholars. The principles honour indigenous ways of knowing and values.  There is a blog area, and you can also sign up for an account to have access to webinars.