Weaving Knowledge Systems Resource Materials

The three main components of the Holistic Lifelong Learning Measurement Framework are: Sources and Domains of Knowledge, The Lifelong Learning Journey and Community Well-being. This new expanded approach will, for the first time, provide Aboriginal communities across Canada with a comprehensive picture of both their learning strengths and challenges. Furthermore, the measurement framework identifies what we do not know, highlighting the critical areas where current indicators do not exist. [From Author]

The First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model
represents the link between First Nations lifelong
learning and community well-being, and can be used
as a framework for measuring success in lifelong
learning. [From Author]

First Nations, Inuit and Métis have long advocated learning that affirms their own ways of knowing, cultural traditions and values. However, they also desire Western education that can equip them with the knowledge and skills they need to participate in Canadian society. First Nations, Inuit and Métis recognize that “two ways of knowing” will foster the necessary conditions for nurturing healthy, sustainable communities. [From Author]

The Inuit Holistic Lifelong Learning Model depicts the linkage between Inuit lifelong learning and community well-being, and can be used as a framework for measuring success in lifelong learning. [From Author]

This site is created to help educators in British Columbia understand how they might incorporate the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) into their classrooms and schools. Some educators will see that the Principles reflect what they already believe, and are doing in their schools and classrooms. Other educators will see concepts embedded in the principles that challenge some of the post-industrial Euro-centric beliefs about education. Either way, this site is not intended to be a comprehensive exploration of First Peoples (or Indigenous) education. It is instead, a beginning (or continuation) of a conversation. [From Website]

As the key funding source for CCL, there is a need for the mandate of CCL to align with the strategic policy
and priorities of Human Resources and Social Development Canada. The evidence collected suggests a good alignment with these policies and priorities. [From Author]

Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors. [From Author]

The report is intended to support the work that strengthens Aboriginal lifelong learning for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) learners. The identified promising practices presented help to identify what some responsive educational systems have contributed to Aboriginal learning and provide foundations for recommendations for action to effect change to governments, institutions communities, and individual learners. [From Author]

In December 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its calls to action for reconciliation related to the oppressive legacy of Indian Residential Schools. Required actions include increased teaching of intercultural competencies and incorporation of indigenous ways of knowing and learning. Intercultural Communication as a discipline has primarily been developed from euro-centric traditions based in three domains of learning referred to as Bloom’s taxonomy. Scholars and practitioners have increasingly identified problems in the way that intercultural competency is taught. The decolonization of education is implicated in finding solutions to those problems. Indigenization of education is one such effort. This chapter posits the Medicine Wheel, a teaching/learning framework that has widespread use in indigenous communities, for use in instructing intercultural communication. Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains, is missing the fourth quadrant of the Medicine Wheel, spiritual. Examples of the spiritual quadrant are offered. [From Author]

Based on a review of works by Indigenous educators, this paper suggests a four-domain framework for developing course outcome statements that will serve all students, with a focus on better supporting the educational empowerment of Indigenous students.
The framework expands the three domains of learning, pioneered by Bloom to a four-domain construction based on the four quadrants of the Medicine Wheel , a teaching/learning framework that has widespread use in the Indigenous communities of North America (Native American, First Nation, Metis, Inuit, etc.). This paper expands on the cognitive (mental), psychomotor (physical) and affective (emotional) domains to add the fourth quadrant, spiritual, as being essential for balance in curricular design that supports students in their learning goals. The description of the spiritual quadrant includes a progression of learning outcomes and suggested verbs for developing learning outcome statements. Evaluation and practical implications are also discussed. [From Author]

This study examines two aspects of teaching with a project-based learning (PBL) model in higher education settings: faculty definitions of PBL and faculty PBL practices, as evidenced by their self-described successes and challenges in implementation. Faculty participants took “a leap of faith” in their teaching practices to redefine what it means to teach and learn using PBL as an instructional methodology. The findings provide insight into how faculty conceptualization of PBL drives implementation; how the PBL approach challenges college-level teachers; and how instructors’ perceptions of their own role in the PBL process impacts how they implement PBL. [From Author]

In traditional times, storytelling was used for many reasons---to teach values, beliefs, morals, history, and life skills in Indigenous communities. Storytelling still holds value as it has become a powerful and interactive instructional tool in today’s classrooms. In this naturalistic research study, the co-researchers used conversational interviewing to explicate how teachers use storytelling as a teaching practice throughout the curriculum in elementary, middle, and secondary schools. Seven First Nations and Métis teacher participants were asked how, why and when storytelling was integral to their professional practices. [From Author]

The historical and ongoing struggles for Indigenous communities in settler-designed school systems across what is now named the United States call for radical educational reform that includes a decolonized curriculum model for Indigenous children. These efforts must first acknowledge that Indigenous education existed prior to European contact and that settler-designed schools were and are detrimental to the well-being of Indigenous children and communities. Radical reform efforts must also recognize the continued systemic racism ingrained in school structures that privilege the dominant, whitestream communities and disadvantage communities of color, including Indigenous communities. [From Author]

Place‐based education has the capacity to extend the learning community beyond the parameters of the university and to bring Indigenous and non‐Indigenous, domestic, and international students into the public space and onto the local landscape. By intentionally using place‐based and intercultural pedagogy, this paper draws on student reflections to investigate how intercultural learning occurred through a place‐based assignment. [From Author]

Finding ways to validate and encourage traditional Aboriginal values and customs into modern western (whitestream(f.1)) educational practices must become a priority for teachers who work with Aboriginal students. Circle work, sometimes referred to as "talking circles" (Four Worlds Development Project 1985) is one of many customs that can be adapted for classroom use, parenting (Bruyere 1984), healing (Hampton et al. 1995), and culturally relevant sentencing and justice treatment programs (Ross 1996). While serving as a useful tool for behaviour modelling and classroom management, the circle embraces and teaches the traditional values of respect, care, and noninterference (Ross 1992). [From Author]

Learning Bird was founded on the principle that students learn best when the content they are engaging with is interesting and relevant to them. This is why we work in collaboration with schools and communities to integrate local Indigenous culture, language, history, and teachings into the content. We help communities infuse their voices into classrooms across Canada, to the benefit of all students. [From Website]