(2020). Pedagogical Development in Older Adult Education: A Critical Community-Based Approach. Studies in the Education of Adults, v52 n1 p16-34. This paper informs pedagogical development in older adult education. It draws on qualitative data of a longitudinal community-based educational action research study. Informed by critical theory, Freirean and postcolonial literature, the educational initiative comprised a critical and praxis-oriented engagement with generative themes co-identified with participants — such as capitalism, consumerism, education and the Internet. Participants' artistic talents, subcultural affiliations and chaperoning and mentoring rituals that characterised their community context were used as educational tools. Workshop-based sessions elicited critical problematization of the generative themes and co-production of related artistic yields, such as poetry and prose in the community's dialects and also traditional folk song. Together with interviews, focus groups and participant observations, the artistic yields provided primary qualitative data. Thematic analysis of this varied data informed the… [Direct]
(2020). "Dirty Gossips", Transnational Policy Borrowing and Lending, and Education Policy Discourse in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bulgarian Comparative Education Society, Paper presented at the Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES) (18th, Online, Jun 2020). Transnational policy borrowing and lending of ideas is mostly from the global North to the global South. In sub-Saharan Africa, transnational policy borrowing and lending is complicated by western "dirty gossips" (distortions and stereotypes) about African societies. While works by Steiner-Khamsi, Quist and Kendall outline the complexities of transnational resource flows to sub-Saharan Africa, analysis of how western distortions about Africa shape transnational policy transfer is lacking. This paper employs symbolic violence and postcolonial frameworks to outline how Europeans and Americans' "dirty gossips" about Africa have influenced external transfer and flow of educational ideas and practices to sub-Saharan Africa since the colonial era. It also delineates the complicated ways western distortions and stereotypes about sub-Saharan Africa is a strategy by western partners in the global transnational policy borrowing and lending processes to position themselves… [PDF]
(2022). Using a Culturally Responsive Approach to Develop Early Algebraic Reasoning with Young Diverse Learners. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, v20 n1 p111-131 Jan. Teaching in ways responsive to the cultures of our students is vital towards enhancing equity of access to mathematics achievement and putting educational policy into practice. New Zealand has the largest group of Pasifika people in the Western world, a multi-ethnic group of indigenous people from Pacific Island nations who have differing cultural values and experiences than the dominant Pakeha (Maori term commonly used to refer to European New Zealanders) population. This study aims to explore how patterning tasks based on indigenous patterns can support young diverse students to develop understanding of growing patterns. Two case studies are presented which show the results of an exploratory teaching experiment undertaken with one classroom of culturally diverse Year 2 students (6-year-olds) situated in an urban low socio-economic area. Data drawn for this paper includes video-recorded classroom observations, written responses from students, and reflective notes from the researcher… [Direct]
(2020). Indigenising Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Open Distance Learning. Africa Education Review, v17 n4 p72-86. This article contributes towards an indigenised version of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). It is a conceptual framework termed indigenous-and-Western technological pedagogical content knowledge (INDANDWEST-TPACK). The article critically discusses the knowledge systems which lead to the framework. Current TPACK lacks the integration of indigenous knowledge systems and Western knowledge systems despite the literature which has attempted to indigenise TPACK. INDANDWEST-TPACK, therefore, helps to integrate indigenous knowledge systems and Western knowledge systems, especially in an open distance and e-learning (ODeL) environment. Hence, this conceptual study addresses the question: How can TPACK be modified to cater for a balance between indigenous knowledge systems and Western knowledge systems? It is important for ODeL institutions such as the University of South Africa (Unisa) to de-Westernise (reduce Western dominance) technology and its pedagogical and content… [Direct]
(2020). Unapologetically I√±upiaq: I?isagvik College and the Future of Arctic Education. Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education, v32 n2 Win. Located in Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, I?isagvik College draws from the strength of its Arctic community, striving to equip its graduates with the knowledge and skills to ensure their success. The institution's mission is "providing academic, vocational and technical education in a learning environment that perpetuates and strengthens I√±upiat culture, language, values, and traditions," the college has been many things since its inception, including a mayor's workforce program, a University of Alaska extension center, and the North Slope Higher Education Center. In 1991, the institution changed its name to Arctic Sivunmun Ilisagvik College, signaling its transformation into a tribal college. Four years later, the North Slope Borough passed an ordinance establishing the I?isagvik College Corporation, an independent, public, nonprofit corporation with full governance powers vested in the college's board of trustees. Through all these changes, the college has addressed… [Direct]
(2020). Towards a Humane Community: The Search for Disability Justice in Higher Education through African Moral Thinking. Transformation in Higher Education, v5 Article 85. Background: The central claim of this article is that African disability justice is possible through analysing, re-examining and reimagining realities that distort and disempower the being of individuals with disabilities. Aim: In this article, I argue for an African disability justice. Methods: I do this by establishing that higher education ought to produce citizens who are responsive and are able to reinvent Africa through the idea of (community) serving. I borrow these ideas from the African ethical thinking and practice of relational attitude and communal living. Setting: In traditional African thinking, as informed by Ubuntu [I am, because you are] social thinking, disability was recognised and respected. Results: I, therefore, develop the concept of reflective-creative education (RCE) as carrying this African ethos for social justice (responsive and enabling citizens) towards members with disabilities. In that endeavour, African higher educational institutes ought to prepare… [PDF]
(2022). Indigenous Language Revitalization through Observing and Pitching in to Family and Community Endeavours: A Rationale and Description (Revitalizaci√≥n de la lengua ind√≠gena por medio de Observar y Acomedirse en las actividades de la familia y la comunidad: fundamentos y descripci√≥n). Journal for the Study of Education and Development, v45 n3 p649-677. This article promotes a grounded approach to Indigenous language revitalization that honours Indigenous peoples' desire to restore Indigenous language use in their daily lives. The approach offers a way of revitalizing Indigenous languages by reintegrating them into Indigenous social life and an Indigenous way of learning, thus also sustaining and revitalizing Indigenous cultures. Drawing upon studies of informal learning in Indigenous-heritage communities in the Americas, as well as studies of family and community language revitalization programmes, the approach promotes Indigenous language communicative competence through participation in everyday-life activities. It capitalizes on the prevalent practice in Indigenous communities of Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavours (LOPI), which serves as social and cultural scaffolding onto which communication in Indigenous languages can be intentionally reattached. In this way, the family- and… [Direct]
(2020). Incorporating Community Culture in Teaching Food Innovation: Ideation, Prototyping, and Storytelling. Journal of Food Science Education, v19 n4 p292-307 Oct. At most institutions, food innovation courses do not highlight the role of community culture, a blind spot that otherwise could connect the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. This study presents a unique approach to teaching food product innovation, incorporating community culture in ideation, prototyping, and storytelling. Through participatory action research, NUTR 435 Experimental Foods at Montana State University partnered with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to teach culturally appropriate product innovation. The class visited the food system stakeholders at the Flathead Reservation and conducted focus groups to gather food memories, understand culinary practices, and recognize product preference of the tribal members. Based on the cultural experiences obtained from the community, the students created smoked trout prototypes and developed recommended recipes for using the smoked trout. The recommended recipes used Native ingredients to tell… [Direct]
(2020). When Difference Comes "with" School: In These Antibrown Times. Curriculum Inquiry, v50 n3 p205-224. From the vantage point of Ta Moko, this paper reads educational practices as ancestral rituals engendering antibrownness. Antibrownness is the social and analytical routine that this paper attempts to unsettle by examining the curricular practices of difference making in literacy in primary education in the US as the locus of colonial interrogation. The paper unpacks how young people reckon with difference in schools through the popular culture lens they bring with them to the classrooms. One of the curiosities driving this inquiry is the potential the visual cultures young people participate in hold to trans-form school curricula from a perspective of First Peoples and related entities. In the first section, Moko as a factual and fictive narrative situates the inquiry. Section two spells out the specifics of the location and position on this project and paper. Section three engages with antibrownness while section four zooms into Disney as a popular culture lens producing frames of… [Direct]
(2018). The Knowledge Holders: Imparting Wisdom at Tribal Colleges and Universities. Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education, v29 n4 Sum. Each day when the sun rises at tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) professors reach back to the traditional teachings of their elders to prepare lessons for the students of today. It is the connection to Native cultures, attitudes, and philosophy that is what sets TCUs apart from mainstream colleges and universities. For most, teaching traditional knowledge, language, and culture has long been a part of their curricula and programs. It is with the passing of each generation, that this effort becomes increasingly vital. This article discusses how TCUs unlike mainstream institutions are working dilligently to incorporate the wisdom of the elders into their classes and programming as they struggle to keep the teachings, knowledge, and wisdom alive in a modern age. At TCUs students get strength, and inspiration as they acquire a sense of responsibility to carry on the traditions and pass them on to the next generation. At TCUs students also discover how to apply this traditional… [Direct]
(2021). Using Local Rural Knowledge to Enhance STEM Learning for Gifted and Talented Students in Australia. Research in Science Education, v51 suppl p61-79 Sep. In order to supply a future Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce, Australia needs to engage its most capable and gifted secondary students in quality STEM learning, either within school or through extra-curricular opportunities, so that they will continue into STEM-based tertiary degrees. High-achieving students in rural communities may face additional barriers to STEM learning that can limit their ability to pursue advanced STEM studies and occupations. This small-scale research project sought to explore a group of gifted lower secondary students' engagement and experiences in a STEM programme designed around a local rural knowledge model as reported by Avery (2013), which uses local knowledge as a vehicle for science learning. This multi-method study was conducted with 26 students years 7 and 8 in a rural school. Information about students' general science class experiences were collected quantitatively. These experiences contrasted the local rural… [Direct]
(2021). Including the Ocean in Formal K-12 Climate Education: Assessment of a Lesson for Middle and High School Students. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, v24 n1 p189-212. Formal climate education without consideration of the ocean is incomplete. The effectiveness of a new climate lesson for youth that includes the ocean-climate nexus was examined by delivering the lesson to nine classes situated in separate British Columbia, Canada public schools and assessing the students' understanding of basic climate concepts before and after the lesson. Among the youth assessed, before-lesson understanding of basic climate science concepts was low. The lesson led to significant improvements in the understanding of climate science; the after-lesson level of understanding appears to be a function of age. The classes with the lowest (29%) and highest (73-79%) after-lesson class averages were the classes composed of the youngest and oldest students, respectively. The age-related differences are considered with respect to the students' cognitive developmental stage, and suggestions are made to improve understanding among younger students…. [PDF]
(2021). Indigenous Youth in Schools: Consequences of Colonialism and Advocating for a Better Future. Communique, v50 n1 p1, 26-30 Sep. Indigenous in this article, refers to and be inclusive of Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians in the United States of America. School psychologists possess the skills to advocate for Indigenous youth and help improve their educational outcomes in schools. To do this work, it becomes necessary to confront the history of colonization, understand its effect on students and families, and identify strategies to reduce the risks posed. This article identifies five general consequences of colonization, provide brief examples of each, and recommend advocacy strategies for school psychologists to address these consequences. While each consequence is presented separately, they are implicitly tied together, as colonialism is a multifaceted and pervasive force (Asante, 2006)…. [Direct]
(2016). Shunted across the Tracks? Autoethnography, Education Research, and My Whiteness. Whiteness and Education, v1 n2 p83-93. Likening education to the railway helped reconceptualise my understanding of social justice and contributed to my research on race-making in the classroom. Education and the railway are similar in how they underpin experiences, mobilities, opportunities and limitations in life. For example, boarding a train makes a range of destinations available, but these are limited to where the tracks extend. Similarly, education for many so-called 'marginalised' students, is likewise, limiting. Both rail and education require access and mastery of particular knowledges and practices. Then there are costs, with the currency of some students opening up more diverse and far reaching destinations. For people with/out the 'right' capital then, train travel — like education — can be limiting or privileging. This paper presents a creative account of the shunting I experienced in coming to (re)locate myself in the education system, an undertaking that was part of a critical race insider… [Direct]
(2018). Role of Regionalization of Education in Formation of Circumpolar Educational Space of Northern Territories of Russia. NORDSCI, Paper presented at the NORDSCI International Conference (Helsinki, Finland, Jul 17, 2018). Relevance of the article of a problem of formation of regional educational space of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic as private question investigated by authors is caused by existence of more global problem of threat of real disappearance of a unique circumpolar Arctic civilization, it's culture and traditions as a result of action of processes of globalization, need of her preservation. The purpose of this article consists in attraction attention of scientists to this problem, identification of ways of her decision. In the article the education using the ethnocultural potential of traditions of peoples of the North is considered as the factor stabilizing disintegration processes. The leader in a research is the culturological approach giving the chance to consider a problem in a complex. According to conceptual approach, the most ancient people of the Earth which have lodged around the North Pole have created the circumpolar civilization possessing community of many leading parameters… [PDF]