The First Nations Education Council is an association, which is built upon the collective strength of all the Nations of Quebec, together in a common vision of quality education for all First Nations children. Some of its functions are taking political action to ensure that First Nations regain full control of their education, conducting studies and making recommendations on governments’ political and administrative decisions on Aboriginal education and producing pedagogical documents, newsletters and pamphlets on issues that are of interest to the indigenous communities.

http://www.cepn-fnec.com

The Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre (MFNERC), was given a mandate by the Chiefs of Manitoba to provide second and third level education services to fifty-five First Nations schools in Manitoba. The MFNERC facilitates a community education process based on First Nations needs, priorities and education plans. The process is First Nations driven and authority remains with the First Nations.

The MFNERC is actively involved in promoting community development by providing training and coordinating opportunities for families and other community members. The MFNERC is committed to working with Manitoba First Nations in the development of partnerships to ensure the highest standards of education are achieved in First Nations schools. The MFNERC web site also contains its journal: First Nations Perspectives.

http://www.mfnerc.org/

The Alaska Native Knowledge Network (ANKN) is an AKRSI (Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative) partner designed to serve as a resource for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing. It has been established to assist Native people, government agencies, educators and the general public in gaining access to the knowledge base that Alaska Natives have acquired through cumulative experience over millennia. This web site presents a wide range of resources and activities for indigenous knowledge systems and ways of knowing.

http://ankn.uaf.edu/

The Promise of Place web site is a project of Center for place based learning and community engagement. It is a public/private partnership that works to advance the state of the art in place-based education by facilitating collaborative efforts in research, program design, technical assistance, resource development and dissemination. It plans to immerse students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences, using these as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum.

http://promiseofplace.org/

In this research, I will try to investigate the significant role of place based learning in Indigenous education and culture. The purpose is to present how place based learning can be used to facilitate an integration of Indigenous cultural diversity into a rapidly changing globalized world, while preserving their community ties. In recent decades, western culture and its economic globalization has been effective in homogenizing Indigenous cultures in different countries. It seems that in this process western education systems have played an effective role in alienation of Indigenous people from their own cultures.

Place based learning, on the other hand, can be used to integrate indigenous culture into traditional education systems through a culturally adapted curriculum that considers a wide range of social, cultural, and economical aspects of Indigenous communities. Instead of standardized in a public education system, indigenous learners have the opportunity to understand the relationship between Indigenous knowledge and knowledge associated with western cultures and mainstream education. Consequently, schools have a crucial part in interconnecting various aspects of Indigenous life (culture, environment,…) to positive features of our globalized era. In this research I will also address some cases presenting effective and efficient examples of such integrations.