Weaving Knowledge Systems Resource Materials

The following guidelines address issues of concern in the documentation, representation and utilization of traditional cultural knowledge as they relate to the role of various participants, including Elders, authors, curriculum developers, classroom teachers, publishers and researchers. Special attention is given to the educational implications for the integration of indigenous knowledge and practices in schools throughout Alaska. The guidance offered in the following pages is intended to encourage the incorporation of traditional knowledge and teaching practices in schools by minimizing the potential for misuse and misunderstanding in the process. It is hoped that these guidelines will facilitate the coming together of the many cultural traditions that coexist in Alaska in constructive, respectful and mutually beneficial ways. [From Author]

A Venn diagram with accompanying description developed by Lorna Andrews based on her interpretation of the concepts from the open access BCCampus textbook: Pulling Together: a guide for Curriculum Developers. [From Author]

The University of the Fraser Valley has presented its first-ever Indigenization and Reconciliation Award to Teaching and Learning Specialist Lorna Andrews. Lorna speaks about her work to educate faculty and staff on Indigenous issues in the efforts towards reconciliation in Canada. [From Website]

The Indigenization Committee of the FECHD worked with colleagues from the College of Arts, the FPS, and the Teaching and Learning Office to create this video and we are excited to share it with faculty, staff, and students at UFV. We were hearing a number of concerning stories from Indigenous faculty and students regarding microaggressions they were experiencing in classrooms, meetings, and in the hallways at UFV. These micoagressions are contributing to a lack of cultural safety on our campuses. We wanted to create a video to encourage conversation, share resources, and provide an entry point into considering how to make UFV a more culturally safe environment for everyone.

This video looks specifically at territorial acknowledgements and introductions with guidance from UFV Elders. It includes examples and discussions from interdisciplinary perspectives. It is not a ‘how-to guide,’ nor does it represent the official expectations of UFV. Instead, it provides some guidance around important things to consider when starting to Indigenize and decolonize our work and spaces at UFV. [From Website]

Welcome to GarnetsJourney.com, where you will meet Garnet Angeconeb – an Indigenous man who has survived a long journey – from the trap line, to residential school, to the city – all in his lifetime. On this site, Garnet will tell you stories from his life, in his own voice, in about 30 brief videos, plus one 21-minute biography. It’s like reading a book, except in this case the author is speaking to you. This website was created in 2012, so you will notice some differences between then and now – such as terms, names of organizations, policies, and current affairs. The power of Garnet’s story remains the same, and is as important today as it was then. [From Website]

This article explores the discourse practices of an Indigenous, community-based charter school and its efforts to create space for Indigenous both/and identities across rural–urban divides. The ethnographic portrait of Urban Native Middle School (UNMS) analyzes the discourse of making ‘a space for you’, which brings together rural and urban youth to braid binary constructs such as Indigenous and western knowledge, into a discourse of Indigenous persistence constraining contexts of schooling. We use the concept of ‘reterritorialization’ to discuss the significance of UNMS’s community effort to create a transformative space and place of educational opportunity with youth. The local efforts of this small community to reterritorialize schooling were ultimately weakened under the one-size-fits-all accountability metrics of No Child Left Behind policy. This ethnographic analysis ‘talks back’ to static definitions of identity, space and learning outcomes which fail to recognize the dynamic and diverse interests of Indigenous communities across rural – urban landscapes. [From Author]

The chapters in Parts 2 and 3 are written alternately from within Indigenous and Western paradigms. Parts 2 focuses on the legacy of racism, trauma, and dislocation. [From Publisher]

In 2017, the Native Indian Teacher Education Program (NITEP) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, continues its 43rd year of offering an Indigenous-based teacher education program (kindergarten to grade 12) that includes partnerships with Indigenous communities /organizations and other post-secondary institutes throughout British Columbia, Canada. NITEP is a Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree program option for people of Indigenous ancestry, within the UBC Faculty of Education. This program has a rich history of Indigenous leadership that has shaped NITEP’s purpose, philosophy, and structure. Four values have also guided NITEP’s development and program revision over a 40-plus-year time period: (1) a sense of community/family within the student body and faculty/staff, (2) community-based relationships, (3) the importance of Indigenous knowledge systems for teacher preparation, and (4) good quality teacher preparation. [From Author]

The Journal of American Indian Education (JAIE) is a refereed journal publishing original scholarship directly related to the education of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Indigenous peoples worldwide, including Inuit, Métis, and First Nations of Canada, Māori, Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander peoples, Indigenous peoples of Latin America, Africa, and others. JAIE strives to improve Indigenous education through empirical research, knowledge generation, and transmission to researchers, communities, classrooms, and diverse educational settings. [From Website]

Recently I attended an evening talk by Richard Wagamese, an accomplished Canadian Aboriginal author. He read from some of his books, and talked of his journey as a writer. He provided helpful advice for aspiring authors in the audience. Like Thomas King, he also emphasized the power of story. What we experienced that evening, and the reason why Richard Wagamese’s writing is so compelling, is the connection of story – our stories – to what it means to be human. Richard Wagamese is a great author because he finds ways to connect his stories to our humanity. As we continually search for our own meaning and purpose, these stories allow us to communicate with others who are also searching. In that communication we develop understandings of our shared humanity, and realize that our differences enrich that shared journey. This article tells a more academic story of a research program funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), under their Community University Research Alliance (CURA) initiative. Our program, entitled "Community-Based, Aboriginal Curriculum Initiatives", received funding from 2005 to 2012. There are interrelated stories, but the focus is
on the importance of story for indigenizing the curriculum and making a difference in schools for all children and youth as they learn about First Peoples. Addressing how the hegemonic story of Aboriginal peoples has been created in North America is important in providing the initial framework for this story of our research. [From Author]

The VALUE rubrics were developed by teams of faculty experts representing colleges and universities across the United States through a process that examined many existing campus rubrics and related documents for each learning outcome and incorporated additional feedback from faculty. The rubrics articulate fundamental criteria for each learning outcome, with performance descriptors demonstrating progressively more sophisticated levels of attainment. The rubrics are intended for institutional-level use in evaluating and discussing student learning, not for grading. The core expectations articulated in all 16 of the VALUE rubrics can and should be translated into the language of individual campuses, disciplines, and even courses. The utility of the VALUE rubrics is to position learning at all undergraduate levels within a basic framework of expectations such that evidence of learning can by shared nationally through a common dialog and understanding of student success. [From Author]

In high school Brad hid his heritage from his best friends. He wasn't the only one. As an Indigenous Educator, Brad seeks to ensure First Peoples move forward with courage.

Brad Baker is a member of the Squamish Nation and is presently working as a District Principal for the North Vancouver School District. His passion is bringing the history of First Nations to the classroom to allow a better understanding of how we as a society can move forward in a collaborative manner. Brad was the recipient of the national Indspire Guiding The Journey Indigenous Educator Award in Leadership in 2014. Brad believes that conversation on the tough topics of Aboriginal Education will lead to reconciliation which will enhance the learning environment for all learners. GO FORWARD WITH COURAGE. [From YouTube]

Written mainly by First Nations and Metis people, this book examines current issues in First Nations education. [From Publisher]

Stó:lō members face uphill battle to preserve sacred sites. [From Author]

This exploratory case study shares teacher candidates' perspectives and experiences of an Aboriginal infusion at York University's Faculty of Education field site in Barrie, Ontario. For this initiative, Aboriginal content and pedagogies were infused throughout placements and courses of the mainstream teacher education program. Teacher candidates shared that the Infusion prepared them to teach Aboriginal content in culturally respectful and meaningful ways by providing them with a foundation to build on and helping them to develop teaching practices inclusive of diverse ways of knowing and being in the world. These findings may be useful to other educators developing and implementing their own infusion initiatives. [From Author]

Prompted by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (2015), there has been widespread response throughout Canadian educational institutions to facilitate reconciliation through education. In the context of Ontario, some Faculties of Education have responded to the calls with requiring Aboriginal education for teacher candidates, to ensure all graduating teachers have knowledge of Aboriginal histories, cultures, and worldviews. Nevertheless, there is a difference between teaching about reconciliation and teaching through reconciliation. This embodiment of reconciliation as a curricular and pedagogical praxis – a praxis of reconciliation – lies at the heart of this research in initial teacher education. This study draws upon case study methodology in an Aboriginal teacher education course in Ontario and a Treaty of Waitangi teacher education workshop in New Zealand, through an investigation of the question: In what ways do Settler teacher education programs facilitate and engage a praxis of reconciliation? The findings of this thesis propose a reconceptualization of reconciliation in teacher education by identifying the ways in which reconciliation is manifested in teacher education (a possibility of reconciliation), and the ways in which reconciliation is hindered (a challenge to reconciliation). In addition to identifying the possibilities and challenges, this research study also deconstructs the safe space metaphor in favour of ethical space and ethical relationality in initial teacher education. [From Author]

Selected times and events important to the history of Aboriginal People in BC from Contact to Confederation. [From Website]

We accept and act on our broad responsibility to promote an education for decolonization. We do this in the interest of the Aboriginal children we teach. [From Website]

Employing metasynthesis as a method, this study examined 52 empirical articles on culturally relevant and responsive science education in K‐12 settings to determine the nature and scope of complementarity between culturally responsive and inquiry‐based science practices (i.e., science and engineering practices identified in the National Research Council's Framework for K‐12 Science Education). The findings from this study indicate several areas of complementarity. Most often, the inquiry‐based practices Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information, Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions, and Developing and Using Models were used to advance culturally responsive instruction and assessment. The use and development of models, in particular, allowed students to explore scientific concepts through families’ funds of knowledge and explain content from Western science and Indigenous Knowledge perspectives. Moreover, students frequently Analyzed and Interpreted Data when interrogating science content in sociopolitical consciousness‐raising experiences, such as identifying pollution and asthma incidences in an urban area according to neighborhood location. Specific inquiry‐based practices were underutilized when advancing culturally responsive science instruction, though. For example, Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking and Engaging in Argument from Evidence were infrequently encountered. However, culturally responsive engineering‐related practices were most often connected with these, and thus, represent potential areas for future complementarity, particularly as the United States embraces the Next Generation Science Standards. In considering innovative directions for advancing equitable science education, several possibilities are discussed in light of the findings of this study. [From Author]

There are almost 200 First Nations communities in B.C. Schools across the province have welcomed their culture, history and traditions to create valuable learning opportunities for all students. [From Website]

Scholarship on Aboriginal governance in Canada has tended to focus on individual communities and formal political processes to the exclusion of informal regional social networks. The author’s own earlier research was itself compromised by a myopia that failed to adequately situate the Stó:lõ Coast Salish community of Shxw’õwhámél within its broader regional context. This article revisits the Shxw’õwhámél community’s experiment in decolonizing its governance system a decade after the community replaced the Indian Act election and governance processes with a system modelled after its historical system of extended family government. Drawing on current interviews to identify both the strengths and shortcomings of the newly rejuvenated system, the author provides historical analysis of early colonial efforts to manipulate the pre-contact governing system to reveal the extent to which Canadian colonialism has not only worked to atomize familial networks, but also to undermine democracy in the process. The author concludes that indigenous political authority continues to be compromised by the colonial experience and points out that the legacy of 150 years of assimilationist policies has sometimes made it difficult for Aboriginal people themselves to separate the effects of colonialism from its causes as they struggle to re-assert self-governance. [From Author]

Part 1: First Promises and Colonial Practices

1 “One School for Every Reserve”: Chief Thunderchild’s Defence of Treaty Rights and Resistance to Separate Schools, 1880–1925 / Sheila Carr-Stewart

2 Placing a School at the Tail of a Plough: The European Roots of Indian Industrial Schools in Canada / Larry Prochner

3 The Heavy Debt of Our Missions: Failed Treaty Promises and Anglican Schools in Blackfoot Territory, 1892–1902 / Sheila Carr-Stewart

Part 2: Racism, Trauma, and Survivance

4 If You Say I Am Indian, What Will You Do? History and Self-Identification at Humanity’s Intersection / Jonathan Anuik

5 Laying the Foundations for Success: Recognizing Manifestations of Racism in First Nations Education / Noella Steinhauer

6 Iskotew and Crow: (Re)igniting Narratives of Indigenous Survivance and Honouring Trauma Wisdom in the Classroom / Karlee D. Fellner

Part 3: Truth, Reconciliation, and Decolonization

7 Curriculum after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: A Conversation between Two Educators on the Future of Indigenous Education / Harry Lafond and Darryl Hunter

8 Indigenous and Western Worldviews: Fostering Ethical Space in the Classroom / Jane P. Preston

9 Supporting Equitable Learning Outcomes for Indigenous Students: Lessons from Saskatchewan / Michael Cottrell and Rosalind Hardie

10 Hybrid Encounters: First Peoples Principles of Learning and Teachers’ Constructions of Indigenous Education and Educators / Brooke Madden

11 The Alberta Métis Education Council: Realizing Self-Determination in Education / Yvonne Poitras Pratt and Solange Lalonde [Table of Contents]

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]

This anniversary arrives at a critical moment: Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and other Indigenous peoples are challenging dispossession and environmental racism; the Black Lives Matter movement is demanding foundational change; Japanese Canadians are seeking BC restitution for the attempted ethnic cleansing of the province; and the fight against racisms associated with COVID-19 is broadening in response to systemic racism. 150 Years and Counting (150YC) is a new open-access, multi-media resource that documents how this recent cycle of anti-racist activism is part of a broader history of Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities challenging white supremacy for over 150 years – particularly since 1871 when BC joined Canada. Co-authored by activists & scholars from diverse communities, this resource will assist anti-racist educators, teachers, scholars, and policymakers in piercing the silences that too often have let racism fester in communities, corporations, and governments. 150YC is co-produced by the UVIC History project Asian Canadians on Vancouver Island: Race, Indigeneity and the Transpacific and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – BC Office. [From Website]

Learning About Walking in Beauty: Placing Aboriginal Perspectives in Canadian Classrooms comes from the Coalition for the Advancement of Aboriginal Studies (CAAS) with funding support from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF). Walking in Beauty is a term that speaks of conducting oneself in harmony with all of the living world, and is respectfully borrowed from the Navajo People.

In 2000-2001, the CAAS conducted a national Student Awareness Survey, measuring awareness, attitudes and knowledge of facts about Aboriginal Peoples' histories, cultures, worldviews and current concerns. Five hundred and nineteen young adults (460 Canadian, 35 Aboriginal and 24 Newcomer students in first year university and college courses across Canada) responded to this 12-page survey. The survey questionnaire was developed and administered by Aboriginal and Canadian educators, scholars, traditional Elders and advocates within the 300-member CAAS network.

The Learning About Walking in Beauty report includes the findings from this survey, together with pedagogical, social and historical analyses. The report offers a pedagogical framework and proposals for learning about "walking in beauty" together. [From Website]

This expansive collection explores the complexities of decolonization and indigenization of post-secondary institutions. Seeking to advance critical scholarship on issues including the place of Indigenous epistemologies, knowledges, curriculum, and pedagogy, Decolonizing and Indigenizing Education in Canada aims to build space in the academy for Indigenous peoples and resistance and reconciliation. This 15-chapter collection is built around the two connecting themes of Indigenous epistemologies and decolonizing post-secondary institutions. Aiming to advance and transform the Canadian academy, the authors of this volume discuss strategies for shifting power dynamics and Eurocentric perspectives within higher education. Written by academics from across Canada, the text reflects the critical importance of the discourse on truth and reconciliation in educational contexts and how these discourses are viewed in institutions across the country. This expansive resource is essential to students and scholars focusing on Indigenous knowledges, education and pedagogies, and curriculum studies. FEATURES: Includes discussion questions and further reading lists and offers practical examples of how one can engage in decolonization work within the academy Features Canadian authors in varying academic positions and provides content specific to the Canadian education system. [From Publisher]

ToC
Local Collaboration to Grow the Seeds of STEM Investment from School and Beyond
Michael Joseph Donovan

Effective STEM Outreach for Indigenous Community Contexts - Getting it Right One Community at a Time!
Sandy Marie Bonny

Grounding the Teaching of Anatomy and Physiology in Indigenous Pedagogy
Natalia Bilton

Principles of an Indigenous Community-Based Science Program
Hiria McRae

An Analysis of Language Use in Analogical Indigenous Knowledge Presented in Science Texts
M. Mukwambo, L. Ramasike, K. Ngcoza

Learning Together about Culturally Relevant Science Teacher Education: Indigenizing a Science Methods Course
Saiqa Azam, Karen Goodnough

Letters from Mungo: A Dialogue on Decolonisation to Improve Academic Engagement with Aboriginal Students
Malcolm Ridges, Tim Wess

A Guide for Front-Line Staff, Student Services, and Advisors is part of an open professional learning series developed for staff across post-secondary institutions in British Columbia.

Guides in the series include: Foundations;[1] Leaders and Administrators;[2] Curriculum Developers;[3] Teachers and Instructors;[4] Front-Line Staff, Student Services, and Advisors;[5] and Researchers.[6]. These guides are the result of the Indigenization Project, a collaboration between BCcampus and the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training. The project was supported by a steering committee of Indigenous education leaders from BC universities, colleges, and institutes, the First Nations Education Steering Committee, the Indigenous Adult and Higher Learning Association, and Métis Nation BC. [From Author]

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) identified that education plays a central role in developing reconciliatory relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples. However, the current historical thinking approach to history and social studies education imposes a settler grammar over the study of the past in ways that lessen the space available to develop the respect, openness for truth, and relationality needed to develop these ongoing relationships of reconciliation. By deconstructing one piece of work by a leading thinker in historical thinking, Peter Seixas, this article demonstrates the structural limitations of responding to the TRC using the Benchmarks of Historical Thinking. [From Author]

This paper explores the complexities of teachers’ understanding of their relationship with Aboriginal people. Drawing on her current work with teachers, the author offers a method for initiating a critical pedagogy of remembrance that allows teachers to attend to and learn from the biography of their relationship with Aboriginal people. The author argues that teachers position themselves as “perfect stranger” to Aboriginal people and explores forms of “ethical learning” which use the act of remembrance to raise awareness of the ways in which the identities of both Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal people in Canada have been shaped by the colonial encounter. The construction of this ethical awareness among teachers is a promising way to transform relationships between Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal people in Canada. [From Author]

The need for Native Americans (NA) in the biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and social sciences research workforce has never been so pronounced. The American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) population reflects high rates of chronic disease that continue to rise rapidly. The multifaceted dis-parities in access to education and educational achievement contribute to and complicate the resolution of health disparities (Nesbitt & Palomarez, 2016). Research suggests that the health and health care of underrepresented minorities are improved when providers of similar ethnic and racial backgrounds provide the care (Brown, DeCorse-Johnson, Irving-Ray, & Wu, 2005; Smedley & Mittman, 2011). This chapter provides perspectives relat-ed to drawing AI/AN students into these fields through cultural grounding, gathering and experiencing scientific knowledge, and making meaning for the students and their tribal communities. [From Author]

In this article, I present critical insights gained from attentiveness to the significance of the fort as a mythic symbol deeply embedded within the Canadian national narrative that reinforces the troubling colonial divides that continue to characterize Aboriginal-Canadian relations. I argue that forts have taught, and continue to teach, that Aboriginal peoples and Canadians live in separate realities. One way to rethink these relations, overcome these teachings, and decolonize educational approaches is to consider a curriculum sensibility called Indigenous Métissage. Indigenous Métissage is a place-based approach to curriculum informed by an ecological and relational understanding of the world. I provide a textual example of Indigenous Métissage that tells the complex story of a rock known to the Cree as papamihaw asiniy. [From Author]

To consider more fully the contextual complexities of living ethically as curriculum scholars, we wish to attend to the various discursive regimes that effectively delimit and circumscribe research projects initiated in partnership with Indigenous peoples and their communities. The habitual disregard of Indigenous peoples stems from the colonial frontier experience. The overriding assumption at work in these colonial frontier logics is that Indigenous peoples and Canadians inhabit separate realities. The inherent intention is to deny relationality. Within the research community there is an increased awareness of the importance of including Indigenous people in the development of research programs related to their communities. We were invited by an Indigenous community to work with the community and school leadership to develop a research program related to student performance in mathematics. Through our work, we have come to wonder about the authority of researchers, the authority of mathematics, and the authority of culture. We have come to understand how easy it is to replicate colonial logics as authoritative and have encountered conflicts when resisting these stances. In this paper, we offer some reflections and insights regarding how, and in what ways, we attempted to disrupt colonial logics. Through our listening to the teachings of children and teachers, we have come to conceptualize cultural relationality as an ethic guiding our participation in a research project with an Indigenous community. [From Author]

This resource guide offers ideas for engaging students in critical learning to better understand the situation of First Nations children and young people and to address the inequalities they experience in education, child welfare, and access to government service through three interrelated campaigns nested in principles of reconciliation and in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC): Shannen’s Dream, Jordan’s Principle and I am a witness. [From Website]

Follow the links below to our publications, which are available as free downloads.  Limited numbers of hardcopies may also be available for order, using our ordering form. Learning First Peoples Series Math First Peoples Teacher Resource Guide (Elementary & Secondary)… [From Website]

With the increased inclusion of First Peoples’ content in the changing BC curriculum, there is a need to incorporate unappropriated First Peoples’ perspectives across the curriculum. The First Nations Education Steering Committee and the First Nations Schools Association, in collaboration with teachers and partners, have developed the following Learning First Peoples series of teacher resources to support English Language Arts, Science Social Studies and Mathematics courses.

The resources reflect the First Peoples Principles of Learning as well as the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including the call to “integrate Indigenous Knowledge and teaching methods into classrooms” and “build student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect.” [From Website]

The guide is intended to help BC educators introduce resources that reflect First Peoples knowledge and perspectives into classrooms in respective ways. The inclusion of authentic First Peoples content into classrooms supports all students in developing an understanding of the significant place of First Peoples within the historical and contemporary fabric of this province and provides culturally relevant materials for Indigenous learners in British Columbia. [From Website]

A curriculum guide on residential schools, for grade 10 social studies.

An interactive map of BC that allows you to look up First Nation Communities according to their language. Unfortunately the links to the languages are broken.

As a collective voice for our communities, we help preserve our cherished languages, arts and cultures – today and for the future. [From Website]

FirstVoices is a suite of web-based tools and services designed to support Indigenous people engaged in language archiving, language teaching and culture revitalization [From Website]

The past several years have seen significant progress in addressing the challenges of Aboriginal education, but it is clear that more must be done. It will take a multi-pronged approach, which includes targeted educational and social supports (within and beyond the school), to close current knowledge, resource and achievement gaps. It will also require sustained efforts to ensure that Aboriginal students learn, together with their classmates, about their shared histories and cultures. [From Publisher]

The impact of trauma on learning in post-secondary institutions is largely ignored. However, recent studies on how Aboriginal people experience mental health issues are bringing attention to Aboriginal students' experiences of intergenerational trauma (IGT). IGT occurs when the maladaptive effects of an original trauma experience, such as historic trauma inclusive of Indian Residential Schools (IRS), results in unhealthy effects on the first generation being passed down to the next generation or multiple generations. Given the lengthy history of collective historic trauma experienced by Aboriginal people, it is reasonable to expect that Aboriginal students' learning is affected by IGT. As post-secondary educators, we engaged a limited study to further our knowledge of the impact of IGT on Aboriginal students. We were puzzled by Aboriginal students' attrition within university programs--students we believed who were more than capable of success. We chose to explore this issue from the perspective of trauma-informed education principles (Mordoch & Gaywish, 2011). Building on past work, this qualitative study explores how IGT affects the educational journeys of Aboriginal students. A conceptual framework based on an Anishinabe teaching of Four Lodges (directional)--Talking, Planning, Teaching, and Healing--guided our research. The researchers formulated questions for each Lodge to frame our research on how IGT is understood by students enrolled in select programs for mature Indigenous students. We asked about the effects of IGT in the classroom and the resultant problems students face in their educational journey. Sixteen Indigenous students, 10 instructors, and nine administrators employed in Aboriginal focus or access programs for at least three years participated in semi-structured interview conversations. Findings reflect their perceptions of the interplay between IGT and educational experiences and potential strategies to redress resultant issues. [From Author]

In recent decades, educators have been seeking ways to improve outcomes for Indigenous students. Yet most Indigenous education still takes place within a theoretical framework based in Eurocentric thought. Teaching Each Other provides an alternative framework for teachers working with Indigenous students – one that moves beyond merely acknowledging Indigenous culture that actually strengthens Indigenous identity. Drawing on Nehinuw (Cree) concepts such as kiskinaumatowin, or 'teaching each other', Goulet and Goulet demonstrate how teachers and students can become partners in education. They provide a template for educators anywhere who want to engage with students whose culture is different from that of the mainstream. [From Publisher]

The Ministry of Education and Child Care provides enhanced funding to school age students of Indigenous ancestry. Enhanced funding provides culturally-appropriate educational programs and services to support the success of Indigenous students. [From Website]

As a way to consider the possibility of decolonizing discourses of diaspora, the central question posed in this paper asks not only where do people of the diaspora come from, but where have they come to? In North America, nations have been superimposed on Indigenous lands and peoples through colonization and domination. Taking this relation seriously in the context of discourses of race, Indigeneity and diaspora within university classrooms interrupts business as usual and promises a richer analysis of one particular similarity amongst diasporic, as well as settler, groups in North America with possible implications beyond this context. In short, the author asks each reader to respond to the question, “Whose traditional land are you on?” as a step in the long process of decolonizing our countries and our lives. While part of the focus for this paper is on theorizing diaspora, there are obvious implications for all people living in a colonized country. Drawing primarily on three pedagogical strategies and events arising from them, the author takes up some of the possibilities for theory-building that they suggest. Reflections on courses taught, student feedback and texts from Toni Morrison’s "Playing in the Dark" to James Clifford’s “Indigenous Articulations” ground the discussion. [From Author]

In this article, I explore the question, “What is the relationship between appropriation of Indigenous thought and what might be called ‘deep learning’ based in years of education in Indigenous contexts.” Beginning with an examination of meanings ascribed to cultural appropriation, I bring texts from Gee on secondary discourses, Foucault on the production of discourse, and Wertsch on the deep structures underpinning discourse into conversation with critical fieldwork experiences extracted from years of research and teaching. Ultimately hopeful, I conclude the article with direction from Indigenous scholars on appropriate cultural protocol in the use of Indigenous knowledges by non‐Aboriginal people in educational contexts. [From Author]

Focuses on the place of education in renewing Indigenous culture and tradition. The film is part of a larger Social Science and Humanities Council funded study and is based on interviews with the children and grandchildren of residential school survivors first interviewed for a 1986 study done by Celia Haig-Brown. The offspring are actively engaging in regenerative educational initiatives such as art, language immersion schools, traditional wilderness camps and filmmaking. Helen Haig-Brown, Celia's neice and the daughter of one of the initial residential school survivors interviewed, is not only a participant and co-investigator in the project but the film's director and co-writer. The research explores with selected children and grandchildren of the survivors of residential schools the place of education in renewing culture and language. In this case, education refers to both formal schooling and other less direct approaches to teaching and learning. Specifically, the guiding question is: What is the role of education in the regeneration of Aboriginal/First Nations cultures and languages? How does it serve the re-creation of indigenous knowledges in contemporary contexts? [From Website]

This book offers an in-depth study of a remarkable school for native students, the Joe Duquette High School in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The key to the school's success is its commitment to aboriginal spirituality as a guiding principle for both curriculum and human behaviour. The sacred circle, a recognition of the interrelatedness of all things, is the foundation of the school's philosophy. Sweet grass circles, trips to the sweat lodge, feasts, and respect for the teaching of Elders are central elements of the Duquette educational experience. Making the Spirit Dance Within offers a model for educating native students that stands in stark contrast to the ignorance of First Nations history and culture typical of mainstream Canadian schools. [From Publisher]

Aboriginal people are alarmingly under-represented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related careers. This under-representation is a direct result of the lack of academic success in science and mathematics, an issue that begins early in elementary and middle school and often escalates in secondary school with the majority consequently doing poorly, not completing these courses and often dropping out. This makes them ineligible to pursue STEM-related paths at the post-secondary level. The greatest challenges to success in these courses are the lack of relevancy for Aboriginal learners and, as importantly, how they are taught; impediments that are also paramount to the increasing lack of success for many non-Aboriginal students in STEM-related courses. This paper explores how Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning and those of the 21st century learners of today very closely parallel each other and illustrates how the creative multidisciplinary approach of a liberal education might be the way to enable early academic engagement, success and retention of Aboriginal learners in the sciences and mathematics. [From Author]

We all have a role to play in Reconciliation — take the challenge and start your journey now! [From Website]
A variety of challenges with videos, and learning materials.

Understanding Indigenous protocol in land acknowledgements, cultural events, or inviting an Indigenous Elder as a guest is fundamental for respect. [From Website]

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This article provides examples of introductory activities that engage students in initial steps in understanding the systemic structure of colonization. Examples of student group responses to the activities are provided. The understandings explored by students through these activities are then taken up through Indigenous literatures in university contexts in order to contribute to the ongoing decolonization of knowledge in the university and to explore indigenous understandings of pedagogies. The author explores various themes important to the decolonizing of educational practices through discussions of (a) colonizing and decolonizing agendas, (b) disrupting government ideology, (c) decolonizing government and reclaiming Indigenous governance, (e) decolonizing spirituality and ceremony, (f) disrupting colonizing ideologies and decolonizing minds, (g) reconnecting to land, (h) decolonizing history, and (i) community-based education and decolonizing education. Conclusions drawn include the importance of engaging students in Indigenous pedagogies so that they can find support for transforming understandings through Indigenous literatures and understand strategies and opportunities to decolonize education. [From Author]

Despite centuries of contact and conquest, Indigenous communities persist in maintaining their cultures and psychologies. Key to this success in cultural survival is the maintenance of Indigenous languages, which contain distinct worldviews. However, Indigenous languages are at risk, with fewer and fewer fluent Elder speakers. Fortunately, there remain committed groups of community educators who carry out Indigenous language education. Current mainstream teacher education programs do not typically introduce the importance of Indigenous language education to teacher candidates, who are the next generation of K‐12 teachers. We view this as highly problematic, and thus carried out a proof‐of‐concept project in which one U.S. university's American Indian/Alaska Native teacher candidates collaborated with, and learned from, Indigenous language educators during a two‐week‐long summer institute at the university. In our article, we share three main findings, based on qualitative analyses of daily‐written student journals collected during the two‐week pilot project: (a) Indigenous language education supports the social justice vision in the American Psychological Association's Multicultural Guidelines; (b) intergenerational educational opportunities are invaluable for affirming Indigenous psychologies; and (c) Indigenous community language educators do important survivance work. Our findings provide insight into how Indigenous language education is crucial for advancing education that honors Indigenous community psychological well‐being. Highlights: Indigenous language education supports the APA's multicultural guidelines and social justice vision. Intergenerational educational opportunities are invaluable for affirming Indigenous psychologies. Indigenous community language educators do important survivance work. [From Author]

Indigenous storytelling is connected to our homelands and is crucial to the cultural and political resurgence of Indigenous nations. According to Maori scholar Linda Smith, “the talk’ about the colonial past is embedded in our political discourses, our humour, poetry, music,
storytelling, and other common sense ways of passing on both a narrative of history and an attitude about history” . For example, when conveying community narratives of history to future generations, Nuu-chah-nulth peoples have relied on haa-huu-pah as teaching stories or sacred living histories that solidify ancestral and contemporary connections to place. As Nuu-chah-nulth Elder Cha-chin-sun-up states, haa-huu-pah are “What we do when we get up every day to make the world good.” [From Author]

As told by Chief Joe Capilano and recorded in "Legends of Vancouver: The Siwash Rock" This text is copied from canadianpoetry.ca. Click on view record in Zotero in order to download attachment.

Achievement gaps between underrepresented minority (URM) students and their white peers in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classrooms are persistent across many white-majority institutions of higher education. Attempts to reduce this phenomenon of underperformance through increasing classroom structure via active learning have been partially successful. In this study, we address the hypothesis that the achievement gap between white and URM students in an undergraduate biology course has a psychological and emotional component arising from stereotype threat. Specifically, we introduced a values affirmation exercise that counters stereotype threat by reinforcing a student’s feelings of integrity and self-worth in three iterations of an intensive active-learning college biology course. On average, this exercise reduced the achievement gap between URM and white students who entered the course with the same incoming grade point average. This result suggests that achievement gaps resulting from the underperformance of URM students could be mitigated by providing students with a learning environment that removes psychological and emotional impediments of performance through short psychosocial interventions. [From Author]

From improved critical thinking to increased self-esteem and school retention, teachers and students have noted many benefits to bringing Aboriginal viewpoints into public school classrooms. In Integrating Aboriginal Perspectives Into the School Curriculum, Yatta Kanu provides the first comprehensive study of how these frameworks can be effectively implemented to maximize Indigenous students' engagement, learning, and academic achievement. Based on six years of empirical research, Kanu offers insights from youths, instructors, and school administrators, highlighting specific elements that make a difference in achieving positive educational outcomes. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, from cognitive psychology to civics, her findings are widely applicable across both pedagogical subjects and diverse cultural groups. Kanu combines theoretical analysis and practical recommendations to emphasize the need for fresh thinking and creative experimentation in developing curricula and policy. Amidst global calls to increase school success for Indigenous students, this work is a timely and valuable addition to the literature on Aboriginal education. [From Publisher]

Indigenous peoples throughout the world have sustained their unique world views and associated knowledge systems for millennia. Many core values, beliefs, and practices associated with those world views have an adaptive integrity that is as valid today as in the past. However, traditional educational processes to transmit indigenous beliefs and practices have frequently conflicted with Western formal schooling and its world view. This paper examines the relationship between Native ways of knowing and those associated with Western science and formalized schooling in order to provide a basis for an education system that respects the philosophical and pedagogical foundations of both cultural traditions. Although examples are drawn from the Alaska Native context, they illustrate issues that emerge anywhere that efforts are underway to reconnect education to a sense of place. Elements of indigenous and Western world views are contrasted. Vignettes and examples depict the obstacles to communication between state agency personnel and local elders discussing wildlife and ecology issues; a cross-cultural immersion program for non-Native educators, held at a remote camp with Native elders as instructors; areas of common ground across world views; and indigenous implications for a pedagogy of place. Educational applications of four indigenous views are discussed: long-term perspective, interconnectedness of all things, adaptation to change, and commitment to the commons. [From Author]

With its energetic pace and stunning HD landscapes, 8th Fire propels us past prejudice, stereotypes and misunderstandings, to encounters with an impressive new generation of Indigenous people who are reclaiming both their culture and their confidence. We meet the emerging leaders, artists, activists and thinkers. We explore the best ideas for change. Above all, 8th Fire examines the way forward to a second chance to get the relationship right. Comes with accompanying Teacher Resource Guide. [From Website]

American Indian/First Nations/Native people have been historically under-represented in the ranks of college and university graduates in Canada and the United States. From an institutional perspective, the problem has been typically defined in terms of low achievement, high attrition, poor retention, weak persistence, etc., thus placing the onus for adjustment on the student. From the perspective of the Indian student, however, the problem is often cast in more human terms, with an emphasis on the need for a higher educational system that respects them for who they are, that is relevant to their view of the world, that offers reciprocity in their relationships with others, and that helps them exercise responsibility over their own lives. This paper examines the implications of these differences in perspective and identifies ways in which initiatives within and outside of existing institutions are transforming the landscape of higher education for First Nations/American Indian people in both Canada and the United States. [From Author]

This resource is a visual journey to support classroom teachers, post secondary and adult educators to understand and learn about the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools.

This document can be used towards developing self awareness in every discipline. Developing self awareness is a key element on the journey towards reconciliation. This resource can be used from K to post secondary in a diverse manner. [From Website]

This paper begins with a critical exploration, from the location of a settler, of how land acknowledgements and practices of self-location function in child and youth care teaching and learning. I critically examine settler practices of acknowledgement, self-location, appropriation, consciousness-raising, and allyship. I use the concepts of settler ethics and responsibilities to underline the importance of accountability in child and youth care pedagogy. I argue that settlers have a responsibility to take action within the challenging ethical landscape of teaching and learning within the settler colonial context. My overall aim is to contribute to the critical and decolonizing literature in child and youth care from the location of a settler educator and child and youth care practitioner. [From Author]

This report is founded upon a belief that Education and Social Work share commonalities in serving Indigenous peoples. Both Social Work and Education share the experience of serving Indigenous children, youth, and families. Both are seeking ways to better respond to the Indigenous community. It is our belief that to better serve Indigenous peoples, both disciplines of Education and Social Work require practitioners who possess a philosophical orientation and practice capacity that respects and actively integrates Indigenous points of view. [From Author]

The Okanagan Nation Alliance is committed to ensuring that our captikwł, our nsyilxcən language, and our Syilx teachings continue to shape our path forward. This book was created as a resource in hopes that it will create a greater awareness of mental health issues while providing an opportunity for greater mindfulness of the importance cultural identity and community play in the well-being of First Nations [From Website]

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 paper discusses the findings of a research study that gathered and analyzed recruitment and retention strategies employed by 50 teacher education programs (TEPs) in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia to increase the number of Indigenous teachers. It discusses several recruitment and retention strategies that were found to be successful in this regard, highlighting the importance of facilitating access, eliminating financial barriers, and offering Indigenous-centric programs. [From Author]

This article examines teacher preparation and teacher change in engineering and computer science education. We examined culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy (CRTSE), culturally responsive teaching outcome expectancy (CRTOE) beliefs, and attitudes toward computational thinking (CT) as teachers participated in one of three treatment groups: robotics only, game design only, or blended robotics/game design. Descriptive data revealed that CRTSE gain scores were higher in the robotics only and blended contexts than in the game design only context. However, CRTOE beliefs were consistent across all treatment groups. In regard to CT attitudes, teachers’ gain scores were higher in the game design only and blended contexts than in the robotics only context. In addition, there were differences by treatment group related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) practices, while cultural artifacts were evident in each learning environment. The results of this study reveal some variability by treatment type and inform future research on equitable practices in engineering and computer science education. [From Author]

Learn how Library and Archives Canada (LAC) increases access to Indigenous-related content in its collection and supports Indigenous communities to preserve First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation cultures and languages. [From Website]

Adoption into an Indigenous society can be thick with obligations and relations if the adoptee understands they are entering into a legal order that organizes and regulates their new kinship relations. Implicit within these kinship orders are limits to what inclusion into an Indigenous society provides. Conversely, adoption can be used as a thin line of extraction, aiming at social capital within Indigenous communities. Adoptions void of an understanding of the legal order they should be accountable to, may be used in a way that circumvents obligations towards Indigenous stories, knowledge systems, and law, and to continue to prop up the modes of extraction of Indigenous cultural knowledge. A turn towards Indigenous laws and legal orders provide an accountability against those who may use adoption into an Indigenous society as a means for extractive, unreciprocated, personal gain. [From Author]

I had the pleasure of participating in the Ethnohistory Field School during the Spring of 2009. Initially, the Stó:lō Nation invited me to do a project on their
ethnobotanical garden and make some recommendations for landscaping around a newly constructed care center for Stó:lō elders. While I began research related to those initiatives, I couldn’t keep myself away from the archives, which contain a plethora of dusty interview transcripts rich in ethnobotanical knowledge. I also had the opportunity to conduct interviews with three Stó:lō elders. These interviews were full of so many discoveries that I was obliged to include in this paper a few rich ethnobotanical accounts that are not directly related to the ethnobotany garden. Therefore, I have adjusted the topic of my paper slightly to accommodate them. [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 Assembly of First Nations has developed the It’s Our Time: First Nations Education Tool Kit as the basis for a comprehensive strategy to reach out to First Nations students, teachers, schools, communities, and the Canadian public in general. [From Author]

From the University of Manitoba. A variety of articles about Indigenizing the curriculum and more. 2008 - 2014.

Since time immemorial, Indigenous people have used formal protocol to acknowledge their surroundings, which is meant to honour their spiritual beliefs. This acknowledgment is often spoken in their own language. Indigenous people believed and understood that they are only one aspect in the great diversity of life on the land. They use a common expression such as “all my relations” – words that resemble an all-encompassing meaning – when acknowledging the people of the land, such as tqeltkúkwpi7 (Secwepemc version of Great Spirit). Their acknowledgement includes or specifies water, ancestors, animals and plant life, all of which are considered to be alive and therefore having a “spirit.” [From Author]

Offered between 2006 and 2009 and graduating 21 Inuit candidates, the Nunavut Master of Education program was a collaborative effort made to address the erosion of Inuit leadership in the K-12 school system after the creation of Nunavut, Canada’s newest territory, in 1999. Delivered to a large extent in short, intensive, face-to-face courses, the program also made extensive use of online supports. This paper outlines the design challenges – geographical, technological, pedagogical, and cultural – that faced the development and delivery of the online portion of the program. It highlights the intersection of the design decisions with the decolonizing principles that framed the program as a whole, the various and varying roles played by the online environment over the course of the program, and the program’s contribution to student success. [From Website]

Decolonizing Pedagogies Teacher Reference Booklet presents: an overview of what “decolonizing pedagogies” means; how and why educational scholars and Indigenous educators suggest they be used to support learning in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal education environments; examples of decolonizing pedagogies (especially in history education); and, some of the opportunities and challenges identified by educators and scholars in implementing decolonizing pedagogies. [From Author]

This first of a pair of articles describes a professional development project that prepared four non-Indigenous mathematics teachers (Grades 5-12) to implement Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC, 2016) notion of reconciliation: cross-cultural respect through mutual understanding. The researchers collaboratively mentored the teachers to enhance their mathematics teaching with Indigenous mathematizing3. The teachers’ focus was on developing and revising lesson plans for other teachers to teach. This process explicitly and implicitly revealed precise supports that need to be in place for a teacher to succeed at innovating with this Indigenous culture-based school mathematics (ICBSM). Part I is a template for scaling up the development of much needed Indigenous resources for mathematics teachers. Part II reports on the research results of this year-long research project. [From Author]

"With the growing strength of minority voices in recent decades has come much impassioned discussion of residential schools, the institutions where attendance by Native children was compulsory as recently as the 1960s. Former students have come forward in increasing numbers to describe the psychological and physical abuse they suffered in these schools, and many view the system as an experiment in cultural genocide. In this first comprehensive history of these institutions, J.R. Miller explores the motives of all three agents in the story. He looks at the separate experiences and agendas of the government officials who authorized the schools, the missionaries who taught in them, and the students who attended them. Starting with the foundations of residential schooling in seventeenth-century New France, Miller traces the modern version of the institution that was created in the 1880s, and, finally, describes the phasing-out of the schools in the 1960s. He looks at instruction, work and recreation, care and abuse, and the growing resistance to the system on the part of students and their families. Based on extensive interviews as well as archival research, Miller's history is particularly rich in Native accounts of the school system." [From Publisher]

Student success is facilitated by strong bonds between families and schools, including a shared sense of purpose and mutual trust. However, for Indigenous peoples these relationships are often broken, undermined by the legacy of residential schooling and assimilative educational practices. Drawing on interviews with 50 Indigenous (mainly Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Métis) and non‐Indigenous parents and educators, this paper examines the ways in which issues of class and race shape interactions between teachers and Indigenous parents. The interviews reveal that legacies of racial discrimination against Indigenous peoples in schooling affect family/school relations among middle‐class (MC) and lower‐class (LC) parents in different ways. MC parents intensify relations with the school while, in comparison, LC parents tend to disengage as a consequence of their negative schooling experiences. [From Author]

The Inuit Bachelor of Education (IBED) and the associated Inuktitut language training, developed by the Nunatsiavut Government, has been an opportunity to explore the relationships between cultural identity and learning an Indigenous heritage language as a second language. Language holds the collective knowledge of a group and cultural identity is one’s own perception of connection to the group. A group of preservice teachers are being interviewed twice a year for three years. This study uses narrative methods to give voice to the pre-service teachers’ experiences through their personal stories of learning Inuktitut. The narratives thus far reflect how language learning may contribute to an increased awareness of, and connection to, one’s Indigenous group. The strengthening of cultural identity can enhance wellbeing, which has implications for the learning of these pre-service teachers and the impact on their future students. This is a preliminary report from the on-going research. [From Author]

Concerned by the need to decolonize education for Aboriginal students, the authors explore philosophies of Indigenous ways of knowing and those of the 21st century learning movement. In their efforts to propose a way forward with Aboriginal education, the authors inquire into harmonies between Aboriginal knowledges and tenets of 21st century education. Three stories from the authors’ research serve as examples of decolonizing approaches that value the congruence between 21st century education and Indigenous knowledges. These stories highlight the need for two-eyed seeing, co-constructing curriculum for language and culture revitalization, and drawing from community contexts to create curriculum. [From Author]

I am aware as I begin this plenary paper that members of the library profession that are drawn to a presentation slotted under the theme, Indigenous Knowledge, are most likely interested in the systems and issues for managing information in that area.
And as soon as I presume that, the breadth of the issues springs to mind - the classification of information about Indigenous peoples’, collection, storage, retrieval, access, copyright, intellectual property, the sensitivities of culturally different clients and communities, the politics, funding, distance issues, networking issues, the concerns about historical texts - and the list can go on (e.g. Edwards, 2000). This paper is not a discussion of these issues although I hope, from what I say today, you can draw some broad implications. [From Author]

Welcome to Native Land. This is a resource for North Americans (and others) to find out more about local Indigenous territories and languages. [From Website]

The Deepening Knowledge Project (DKP) seeks to infuse Indigenous peoples' histories, knowledges and pedagogies into all levels of education in Canada. The project is a part of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, which is located on the territories of Anishinaabe and Onkwehonwe peoples. Led by a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty, students and staff, DKP provides information about the history and perspectives of First Nations, Métis and Inuit and Native American cultures; information related to the issues of pressing concern to Indigenous peoples and their communities today; as well as curricula for teachers to incorporate this into teaching practice.
All of the resources on the Deepening Knowledge website are organized by grade, subject, and theme. Please browse our site using the menus at the top and to the left of this page to find lessons and links to help support your classroom learning. These resources provide ideas, lesson templates, and links to books, films, and music to bring Indigenous perspectives, knowledges, and stories into your classroom. We encourage you to use them with other resources and determine what is appropriate for your class. [From Website]

This project is the culmination of work done over the past two and a half years by 13 members of OSSTF/FEESO, most of whom are First Nation or Métis, or work extensively with Aboriginal students.

The lessons are designed to be implemented in a range of courses, such as civics, history, social sciences, English, geography, business, careers, physical education and science. The resource has been produced as a PDF file on CD with an accompanying video on DVD. Although the lessons are intended for use with high school curricula, the video and activity sheet may be of use to all Federation members who work with students. [From Website]

The term “learning styles” refers to the concept that individuals differ in regard to what mode of instruction or study is most effective for them. Proponents of learning-style assessment contend that optimal instruction requires diagnosing individuals' learning style and tailoring instruction accordingly. Assessments of learning style typically ask people to evaluate what sort of information presentation they prefer (e.g., words versus pictures versus speech) and/or what kind of mental activity they find most engaging or congenial (e.g., analysis versus listening), although assessment instruments are extremely diverse. The most common—but not the only—hypothesis about the instructional relevance of learning styles is the meshing hypothesis, according to which instruction is best provided in a format that matches the preferences of the learner (e.g., for a “visual learner,” emphasizing visual presentation of information). The learning-styles view has acquired great influence within the education field, and is frequently encountered at levels ranging from kindergarten to graduate school. There is a thriving industry devoted to publishing learning-styles tests and guidebooks for teachers, and many organizations offer professional development workshops for teachers and educators built around the concept of learning styles. The authors of the present review were charged with determining whether these practices are supported by scientific evidence. We concluded that any credible validation of learning-styles-based instruction requires robust documentation of a very particular type of experimental finding with several necessary criteria. First, students must be divided into groups on the basis of their learning styles, and then students from each group must be randomly assigned to receive one of multiple instructional methods. Next, students must then sit for a final test that is the same for all students. Finally, in order to demonstrate that optimal learning requires that students receive instruction tailored to their putative learning style, the experiment must reveal a specific type of interaction between learning style and instructional method: Students with one learning style achieve the best educational outcome when given an instructional method that differs from the instructional method producing the best outcome for students with a different learning style. In other words, the instructional method that proves most effective for students with one learning style is not the most effective method for students with a different learning style. Our review of the literature disclosed ample evidence that children and adults will, if asked, express preferences about how they prefer information to be presented to them. There is also plentiful evidence arguing that people differ in the degree to which they have some fairly specific aptitudes for different kinds of thinking and for processing different types of information. However, we found virtually no evidence for the interaction pattern mentioned above, which was judged to be a precondition for validating the educational applications of learning styles. Although the literature on learning styles is enormous, very few studies have even used an experimental methodology capable of testing the validity of learning styles applied to education. Moreover, of those that did use an appropriate method, several found results that flatly contradict the popular meshing hypothesis. We conclude therefore, that at present, there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning-styles assessments into general educational practice. Thus, limited education resources would better be devoted to adopting other educational practices that have a strong evidence base, of which there are an increasing number. [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]

Globally, neoliberal education policy touts youth entrepreneurship education as a solution for staggering youth unemployment, a means to bolster economically depressed regions, and solution to the ill-defined changing marketplace. Many jurisdictions have emphasized a need for K-12 entrepreneurial education for the general population, and targeted to youth labeled ‘at risk’. The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative’s Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program (AYEP) has been enacted across Canada. This paper applies critical discourse analysis to a corpus of texts, exposing how colonial practices, deficit discourse, and discursive neoliberalism are embedded and perpetuated though entrepreneurial education targeted at Aboriginal students via AYEP. [From Author]

As Indigenous educators who share a passion for innovative approaches using instructional media, we are inspired to explore the ways in which technology can
support teaching and learning from Indigenous perspectives. Several scholars advocate the use of technology in reclamation of First Peoples’ voices, stories and other ways of knowing (Ginsburg, 2000; Iseke-Barnes, 2002; Dyson, Hendriks & Grant, 2007). Reflecting social constructionism, we believe media can be designed to build educator capacity within these special interest areas. By highlighting work that is currently underway within Indigenous education, we invite readers to imagine their own possibilities for transformative and decolonizing pedagogy. [From Author]

Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016. [From Website]

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]

This report has been prepared for and commissioned by the Association of BC Deans of Education (ABCDE), First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), and the Indigenous Adult Higher Learning Association (IAHLA), referred to as the ABCDE-FNESC-IAHLA Working Group. The ABCDE-FNESC-IAHLA Working Group identifies increasing the number of professionally certificated teachers who are of Aboriginal ancestry as a top priority. From the “Report on the Aboriginal Student Retention and Recruitment in Education Symposium” (Hare, 2018), increasing the number of Indigenous educators is highlighted as crucial for Indigenous student success for a number of reasons, including Indigenous educators serving as role models and having more familiarity with Indigenous students’ cultures, languages, worldviews and learning needs. Therefore, with the ultimate goal of contributing to Indigenous student success, via increasing the number of Indigenous teachers, Dr. Jean-Paul Restoule and the research team were commissioned with the task of documenting the various strategies that different TEP’s employ internationally and in other Canadian provinces and territories to recruit and/or retain Indigenous teacher candidates, and/or support them in their roles as teachers following graduation. [From Author]
Click on the view in Zotero link to download the attachment.

In the winter term of 2016, Cape Breton University launched a revised version of a second year Mi’kmaw Studies course entitled Learning from the Knowledge Keepers of Mi’kmaki (MIKM 2701). This course was designed to be led by local Elders and Knowledge keepers with facilitation support from university faculty. It was designed by course facilitators as a dual-mode course, with the opportunity for students to participate face-to-face and online, and the excitement it generated quickly went “viral.” In this paper, we describe the experiences of the participants in the course through an analysis of their own reflections on the 13 weeks of instruction. The aim of this analysis is to share course design considerations for post secondary institutions attempting to “Indigenize the academy” at a course level, but also to evaluate the process of co-learning as it was evidenced in the course as a means to address educational complexity and decolonization efforts in the classroom. [From Author]

This is a joint work between my Mom and I. It begins with a story passed down to my Mom about my grandfather's experience at an Indian Residential School. My Mom asks me questions about the story and I respond, learning more as we talk. We ended up writing back and forth to one another over a few days to complete this. I found it very important and educational to write about. We share this story fully acknowledging it is only one story, and it is shared with the intent for learning. I have heard many people say Residential Schools happened a long time ago. My mom started to share this story several years ago with primarily non-Indigenous social work students to demonstrate how Residential School and the Sixties Scoop impacted the five generations she speaks of in the story. My brother's first day of school became a much bigger moment for her and my Mushum. We share this story with deep respect for all the families who were impacted by Residential Schools and the Sixties Scoop. We stand with you and support all of your voices and recognize many of you have lost far more than we have. For all our non-Indigenous family and friends, we share this with respect for you as well, and to foster better understanding and as a step towards reconciliation. This is our truth. [From Author]

Although teacher education programs across the country are currently under significant review and reform, little attention is paid to the importance of Indigenous principles that could inform or transform them. Attention to Indigenous principles such as those presented in this paper can, we believe, serve to decolonize teacher education, offering programs that enable greater success for a wider array of diverse students, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, and address their needs and interests. The intent of this paper is to draw attention to the ways Indigenous principles offered by Lil’wat scholar Lorna Williams have influenced one teacher education program, and to share some of the ways that these principles have been enacted within the program. We offer our perspectives as narrative accounts of what we have done in our courses and in our teacher education program that reflect the principles explained in the paper. We do not feel we can express this perspective any different other than to recount shifts made and our observations as educators. These could be expressed as case studies but this would only be paying lip service to claiming a methodology that was not really followed. We offer this paper more as a sharing of narratives drawn to the indigenous principles. Authenticity comes from our common perceptions from different perspectives in the program. [From Author]

This article investigates the portrayal of colonialism and Indigenous peoples in curricula and textbooks in the province of Ontario, Canada. The analysis is focused on the curricular documents and texts that constituted Ontario’s social studies and Canadian and World Studies stream between 2003 and 2015, which have informed the understanding of a generation of Ontarians. Drawing on recent work on epistemologies of ignorance, we demonstrate how segregation and past placement of Indigenous content, omission of Indigenous critical perspectives, philosophies, and territories, denial of colonialism, and reinforcement of racialized hierarchies work to encourage logic of relation premised on Indigenous disappearance. Although nine textbooks associated with the 2003–2015 Canadian and World studies curriculum were reviewed by First Nations and Métis educators, critical Indigenous perspectives are frequently undermined in the texts through exclusion from chapter review questions, segregation of content, and imposition of settler voice. Although the Ministry of Education has created a new curriculum, the depth, and perniciousness of epistemologies of ignorance requires sustained involvement of First Nations, Métis and Inuit educators at all levels of curricular and text design, with special attention to the training of teachers. [From Author]

A childrens book collection of biographies of Native American athletes: Kenny Dobbs (Choctaw): Basketball dunking champion -- Shoni Shimmel (Umatilla): Professional women's basketball player -- Cheri Becerra-Madsen (Omaha): Wheelchair-racing Olympian and world record holder -- Cory Witherill (Navajo): Indy race car driver -- Alwyn Morris (Mohawk): Olympic gold medalist in kayaking -- Nagomi Lang (Karuk): Ice dancer, Olympian, and figure skater -- Beau Kemp (Choctaw and Chickasaw): Professional baseball pitcher -- Shelly Hruska (Métis): Ringette Team Canada -- Jordin Tootoo (Inuit): National Hockey League star -- Ross Anderson (Cheyenne-Arapahoe, Mescalero Apache): Fastest skier in North America -- Stephanie Murata (Osage): Championship wrestler -- Jim Thorpe (Sauk and Fox): An American legend -- Delby Powles (Mohawk): Lacrosse champion. [From Publisher]

This study focuses on the incorporation of Aboriginal content and pedagogy into senior level academic secondary school courses with students of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal ancestry within the English First Peoples curriculum. The results reveal the positive relationship between Indigenous approaches, student engagement, and academic performance as well as challenges and tensions resulting from the merging of diverse educational perspectives. Both theoretical support for the use of Indigenous pedagogy as well as practical classroom examples are described. These findings have the potential to support educators as we move towards increased collective understanding of the necessity of the acknowledgement of Indigenous culture and perspectives both within our public education system and society as a whole. [From Author]

This series and content was developed to support educators with these questions:

How do we respectfully bring Indigenous arts into our teaching practice when we are unable to invite an Indigenous artist to lead our learning?​
How can we, as non-Indigenous educators or Indigenous educators from different Nations from the art we are sharing, support students to engage in non-appropriative Indigenous arts practices?​
How can we, as educators, support Indigenous resurgence through Indigenous arts education?
[From Website]