(2012). Sin Fronteras Boy: Students Create Collaborative Websites to Explore the Border. Rethinking Schools, v26 n3 p40-45 Spr. Around one table, four 4th-grade girls chat quietly as they write on their laptops: Ruby interviews Alejandra about her experience crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as a 6-year-old. Meanwhile, Cindy turns notes from an interview with her uncle into a narrative about his immigration experience. Next to them, four boys work on the "Sin Fronteras Boy" website, a choose-your-own-adventure story about a boy who tries to cross the border and becomes a superhero after his mother is grabbed by "la migra" (immigration agents). I am working with the indigenous peoples group, helping Roberto understand a recent article about the U.S. government's attempted seizure of Lipan Apache land for the construction of the border wall, while Karolina looks for photographs of the Lipan Apache, Yaqui, Kickapoo, Yuma, and Tohono O'odham peoples, all tribes that are currently affected by U.S. border policy…. [Direct]
(2010). Eliciting and Utilizing Rural Students' Funds of Knowledge in the Service of Science Learning: An Action Research Study. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Rochester. Several researchers have pointed out the failures of current schooling to adequately prepare students in science and called for radical reform in science education to address the problem. One dominant critique of science education is that several groups of students are not well served by current school science practices and discourses. Rural students represent one of these underserved populations. Yet, there is little in the literature that speaks specifically to reforming the science education of rural students. Utilizing action research as a methodology, this study was designed to learn more about the unique knowledge and life experiences of rural students, and how these unique knowledge, skills and interests could suggest new ways to improve science education in rural schools. Informed by this ultimate goal, I created an after school science club where the participating high school students engaged in solving a local watershed problem, while explicitly bringing to bear their… [Direct]
(2014). Shifting Perspectives and Practices: Teacher Candidates' Experiences of an Aboriginal Infusion in Mainstream Teacher Education. Brock Education: A Journal of Educational Research and Practice, v23 n2 p47-66 Spr. 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…. [PDF]
(2011). Navigating the Problem of Inclusion as Enclosure in Native Culture-Based Education: Theorizing Shadow Curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, v41 n3 p332-349 Jun. This conceptual essay explores how Gerald Vizenor's (Anishinaabe) literary discussions of \shadow survivance\ provide opportunities to work against the containment of Indigenous knowledge in mainstream and culture-based curricular practices. More specifically, the essay considers how constructivism is deployed as an opening to the inclusion of Indigenous epistemologies, yet also contains Indigenous epistemologies within a materialist and more specifically, Marxist and Hegelian philosophy. The author suggests that an implicit \shadow curriculum\ has been articulated within the literature of Native culture\based curriculum which works against these forms of containment, but has rarely turned to Native American literary figures to elaborate the philosophical and theoretical differences they represent. (Contains 1 note.)… [Direct]
(2011). The "Verbification" of Mathematics: Using the Grammatical Structures of Mi'kmaq to Support Student Learning. For the Learning of Mathematics, v31 n3 p8-13. As part of a larger project focused on transforming mathematics education for Aboriginal students in Atlantic Canada, this paper reports on the role of the Mi'kmaw language in mathematics teaching. Examining how mathematical concepts are described in Mi'kmaq gives insight into ways of thinking. Shifting classroom discussions to reflect Mi'kmaw verb-based grammar structures, referred to as "verbification", is described through the example of a grade 3 lesson on prisms and pyramids. "Verbification" shows tremendous promise as a way to support Mi'kmaw learners as they negotiate their space between school-based mathematics and their own cultural ways of knowing and doing mathematics…. [Direct]
(2011). Brothers Inside: Fathering Workshops with Aboriginal Prisoners. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, v51 n2 p374-389 Jul. This paper describes a fathering program that has been operating for a number of years for Aboriginal men in the corrective system. The discussion groups focus on how the men see their role as fathers whilst in jail. The discussions examine ways of changing and developing new skills for them on release. The basis of the program is that just because they are incarcerated does not mean that they are bad fathers or not a father at all. The discussions involve learning from each other. We sit down and listen to each other about stories of being a father with a group of Aboriginal men. A lot of them are from the same background–where they grew up, how they grew up and their lifestyle. The fathers' program is an environment where no-one is judged for their behaviour, their answers or how they talk…. [PDF]
(2011). Cultural Diversity in Australia: Promoting the Teaching and Learning of South African Music. Australian Journal of Music Education, n1 p42-56. Australian society is increasingly multicultural, and this article provides some theoretical perspectives on multiculturalism, cultural diversity and the teaching and learning of African music. It identifies the need for teachers, practitioners and artists to jointly work together to create a community of practitioners where pedagogy meets practice. Through reflection and interview data of an artist in schools, a primary music specialist and a tertiary music educator, the "how" and "why" about teaching South African music and culture is discussed through pedagogy. Whilst this article discusses a particular culture and music, it has implications for education within a wider sphere and calls for further investigation when using different music from diverse cultures. (Contains 1 note.)… [PDF]
(2013). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers — "Tellin' the Stories of Teachers: Tellin' the Stories of Teaching". Australian Association for Research in Education, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) (Adelaide, Australia, 2013). The paper draws on research — "Tellin' the stories of teachers: Tellin' the stories of teaching" project — that forms part of the national More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative. This Initiative aims to increase the number and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the profession. A problematic is therefore raised from the outset — how can the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers be increased and what conditions promote retention? "Tellin' the stories of teachers: Tellin' the stories of teaching" creates a digital and historical archive of 15 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples presenting perspectives as students, graduate teachers and experienced academics. This collection of voices interpolates a teacher's work and life with what it means to be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person. The paper uses critical theoretical frames to analyse the data/stories of the project… [PDF]
(2011). Transformative Praxis in Teacher Practice: One Tauira Finds Her Place in Education. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, v41 n1 p59-74 Jan. This paper reports on an initial teacher education programme that has been designed to facilitate and support Maori student teachers in New Zealand. This paper highlights the ambiguity in New Zealand on the theoretical foundation of initial teacher education. Therefore a background on transformative praxis and how it has impacted on the education system of New Zealand is first presented. Then the tauira's (student teacher's) narrative is presented which has been informed by two years of a Te Ao Maori (Maori worldview) programme. The programme was built upon critical theory to facilitate transformative praxis in student teachers. Specifically, this narrative was a vehicle for how her own past in mainstream education and the programme has impacted upon how she sees teaching and being the teacher. The paper highlights the positive impact a culturally responsive programme can have on the self-efficacy of marginalised members of society. (Contains 5 notes.)… [Direct]
(2009). Partnering with an Aboriginal Community for Health and Education. Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education, v35 n1 p45-60 Spr. Cultural awareness is a concept that is gaining much attention in health and education settings across North America. This article describes how the concepts of cultural awareness shaped the process and the curriculum of an online health education project called Interprofessional Collaboration: Culturally-informed Aboriginal Health Care. The exploration focuses on the interactions among faculty members and educational developers from Laurentian University, Elders of the Anishinabek tradition, and members of the Anishinabek community known as the North Shore, an area approximately two hours northwest of Sudbury. The project's curriculum is driven by choices made by the Anishinabek Elders, with support from their cultural community and the local university. The online module developed for this project provides health-care students at Laurentian University, with access to traditional knowledge, including the teachings of the Medicine Wheel and the Seven Grandfathers. Ideally, these… [Direct]
(2012). STARS Quarterly Review. Summer 2012: Innovations in Campus Sustainability. Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education The Summer 2012 SQR: "Innovations in Campus Sustainability," explores the critical linkages between education, innovation, and sustainability. This issue highlights new and ground-breaking practices within the Innovation (IN) category of STARS, focusing on the unique solutions within higher education that positively impact current and future generations. With 11 institutions highlighted, this issue covers data from reports submitted through June 1, 2012…. [PDF]
(2012). \It's Almost like a White School Now\: Racialised Complexities, Indigenous Representation and School Leadership. Critical Studies in Education, v53 n2 p169-182. Drawing on a broader study that focused on examining principal leadership for equity and diversity, this paper presents the leadership experiences of \Jane\, a White, middle-class principal of a rural Indigenous school. The paper highlights how Jane's leadership is inextricably shaped by her assumptions about race and the political dynamics and historical specificities of her school community. A central focus is on Jane's tendency to deploy culturally reductionist understandings of Indigeneity that position it as incompatible or incommensurable with White culture/western schooling. The paper argues the central imperative of a leadership that rejects these understandings and engages in a critical situational analysis of Indigenous politics, relations and experience. Such an analysis is presented as imperative to supporting representative justice in that it moves beyond merely according a voice to Indigenous people to a focus on better understanding, problematising and remedying the… [Direct]
(2012). Effective Nutrition Education for Aboriginal Australians: Lessons from a Diabetes Cooking Course. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, v44 n1 p55-59 Jan. Objectives: To examine the experiences of Aboriginal Australians with or at risk of diabetes who attended urban community cooking courses in 2002-2007; and to develop recommendations for increasing the uptake and effectiveness of nutrition education in Aboriginal communities. Methods: Descriptive qualitative approach using semistructured interviews with 23 Aboriginal course participants aged 19-72. Verbatim transcripts were coded using NVivo 7 software, and qualitative analysis was undertaken. Results: Engagement and learning were increased by emphasizing the social aspects of the program, holding the course in a familiar Aboriginal community-controlled health setting and using small group learning with Aboriginal peers. Partnership with a vocational training institute provided teaching expertise, but there was conflict between vocational and health promotion objectives. Conclusions and Implications: Nutrition programs for Aboriginal Australians should be social, flexible, and held… [Direct]
(2015). Comparative and International Education: A Bibliography (2014). Comparative Education Review, v59 nS4 pS1-S228 Nov. The 2014 "Comparative Education Review" bibliography of refereed journal articles on topics relevant to comparative and international education covers all 12 months in 2014 and includes 3,389 entries–a full 30 percent increase over the set of references assembled in the 2013 bibliography. They are drawn from 280 refereed journals, both print and online, published principally in English. The bibliography is presented in the "Chicago Manual of Style" (16th ed.) format and is divided into four main categories: (1) Levels and Types of Education; (2) Professional Concerns and Methods; (3) Thematic Foci in Education; and (4) World Regions. … [Direct]
(2008). How Might Native Science Inform \Informal Science Learning\?. Cultural Studies of Science Education, v3 n3 p731-750 Sep. This article examines the literature on Native science in order to address the presumed binaries between formal and informal science learning and between Western and Native science. We situate this discussion within a larger discussion of culturally responsive schooling for Indigenous youth and the importance of Indigenous epistemologies and contextualized knowledges within Indigenous communities…. [Direct]