(2004). Valuing Indigenous Knowledges: Strategies for Engaging Communities and Transforming the Academy. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, v10 n1 p91-106. This article presents steps taken by Penn State's Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK) to engage communities and transform the academy. ICIK provides opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to network with others who share a vision of the academy as a place where multiple ways of knowing are valued and respected. Three questions have dominated the transformation agenda: (a) How do communities negotiate and connect various knowledge systems in order to address local/global concerns? (b) What can the global community and academic institutions learn from indigenous knowledge innovations? (c) How do we integrate and internalize a local knowledge orientation within academic institutions? Institutionalization of knowledge production, validation, and distribution in universities and research laboratories characterizes the academy. This academic way of knowing contrasts with indigenous knowledge that resides in a particular locality, is derived from many years… [PDF]
(1968). Evaluation of Family Service Program, Home Economics Division of Cooperative Extension, Essex County, New York: Extension Study No. 19. An evaluation study of the Family Service Program of the Essex County (New York) Division of Home Economics is focused on the third series of lessons; the purposes of the study were to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the indigenous program aides and the participants and to show the influence of training for teaching this series of lessons. It was found that aides had higher income, participation scores, and educational levels than participants, but both groups were low in comparison to the country's total population in level of husband's occupation, net family income, and years of school completed. Both aides and participants made significant gains from the pre- to posttest while aides showed slightly higher scores in both testing situations. Participants listed problems of cooking and planning meals, housekeeping, and money management, while aides identified participant problems of care and discipline of children, and health. Among implications are that indigenous… [PDF]
(1973). The Effect of Paraprofessional Assistance on the Academic Achievement of Migrant Children. The study investigated the effect of guided paraprofessional assistance on the academic achievement of lower achieving intermediate grade migrant children. It examined one possible means of overcoming some of the overwhelming handicaps experienced by migrant children by using indigenous paraprofessionals as a humanizing, tutorial factor. Eighty migrant students, in both the 5th and 6th grades, were chosen for this study when they were residing in the San Joaquin Valley (California) during the 1971-72 school year. The 35 paraprofessionals used were mostly Spanish speaking. The amount of assistance received by each migrant child was recorded by resource teachers in the 34 school sites surveyed. The research indicated that: (1) lower achieving intermediate students who received paraprofessional assistance showed greater achievement than children who received no such help; (2) paraprofessional assistance in reading was somehow especially beneficial to 6th grade boys; (3) there were no… [PDF]
(2004). The Role of Community Development Employment Projects in Rural and Remote Communities. National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme provides funds to help Indigenous communities in rural and remote Australia provide employment, skills development, and various essential and desirable municipal services. However, there is room to improve the range and quality of employment and community development activities available. There is also room for increasing the number of participants who engage in and complete courses leading to trade and other formal qualifications. (Contains 5 tables and 4 footnotes.) [For "The Role of Community Development Employment Projects in Rural and Remote Communities. Support Document," see ED495143.]… [PDF]
(2001). La Pedagogie Convergente: Son Experimentation au Mali et son Impact sur le Systeme Educatif. Monographies Innodata (The Convergent Pedagogy: Its Experimentation in Mali and Its Impact on the Educational System. Innodata Monographs). In this monograph, convergent pedagogy, which is a foreign language education approach to develop functional bilingualism in students, is described as a new approach to teaching language in bi- or multilingual contexts. Convergent pedagogy was introduced to the Mali educational system as a language education experiment in 1987. This monograph is a complete report of the long-term, internationally funded project, its background, finances, implementation and outcomes. The approach was developed in Belgium and was introduced to the educational system in Mali as a method to facilitate the acquisition of French, while still upholding the educational and cultural values of mother tongues. Using this approach in Mali, mother tongues are taught alongside French; however, mother tongues are employed in the formal classroom to convey the most important elements of communication, expression, and instruction. Sections of the monograph include the following: (1) Background information on the… [PDF]
(2000). U.S. Indian Policy, 1815-1860: Removal to Reservations. A Unit of Study for Grades 8-12. The cultural interaction between Euro-Americans and the original inhabitants of this country constitute one of the most compelling and defining conundrums in U.S. history. This unit explores 19th-century ideology as manifested in public attitudes, justifications for action, and the formation of government policy. The unit is based on primary source documents, such as newspapers, photographs, private correspondence, and artifacts. It presents specific issues and dramatic episodes in U.S. history from which teachers and students can explore the deeper meanings of these landmark events and their wider context in the historical narrative. The unit's premise is that by studying crucial turning points in history the student develops an awareness that choices had to be made by real human beings. The unit includes: "Introduction" (Approach and Rationale, Content and Organization); "Teacher Background Materials" (Unit Overview, Unit Context, Correlation to the National…
(1996). The Concept of Giftedness from an Aboriginal Cultural Perspective. Gifted Education International, v11 n2 p100-06. Australian Aboriginal adults (n=74) and children (n=103) were interviewed regarding their perspectives on giftedness. Aboriginal culture was found to view giftedness as a consequence of individual ability, commitment, and environmental factors. Research is reported on the specific talents valued by the Aboriginal culture. Suggestions are given for more culturally relevant ability identification constructs. (Author/PB)…
(1995). Critical Literacy: Cultural Action and Textual Practices. Open Letter, v6 n1 p1-4. Discusses Australian approaches to critical literacy. The editorial notes that conditions in Australia for curriculum development and implementation are in transition, with different approaches and priorities advanced in the second half of the 90s. Suggests that to teach critical literacy is to help students identify how the ways of focusing on texts serve cultural, economic and political interests. (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education) (CK)…
(1996). Becoming Hataalii. Journal of Navajo Education, v13 n3 p11-14 Spr. Four hataalii (Navajo medicine men) discuss why they chose and how they studied their profession, how ceremonies correct spiritual imbalance, why ceremonies cannot be done for non-Indians (differences in Navajo and non-Navajo belief systems), and how the Native American Church was founded to allow legal use of peyote and was commercialized by insertion of Christianity. (TD)…
(2003). Postmodernist Perspectives on Local Languages: African Mother-Tongue Education in Times of Globalisation. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, v6 n1 p17-36. Analyses of how African communities use language show that indigenous languages coexist with metropolitan languages in complex configurations of speech practices. Argues that these practices should suggest a rethinking of the purpose, function, and methodology of teaching languages in developing African contexts, building on the ways that local communities use multilingualism to address power relationships inherent in local-global configuration. (Author/VWL)…
(1991). Christopher Columbus: Bridge between the Old and New World. OAH Magazine of History, v5 n4 p47-48 Spr. Presents a partial bibliography of ERIC database entries concerning Christopher Columbus and the effects of his discoveries upon the world. Includes works on historiography, the ecological impact of the meeting of the two worlds, and history lesson plans. (DK)…
(1992). Ethnoscience and Indian Realities. Winds of Change, v7 n3 p12-18 Sum. Advocates for ethnosciences courses in higher education. Compares the epistemology of Western science and traditional tribal knowledge, including methods of information gathering, data interpretation, fragmented versus holistic approach, and world views. Discusses the expansion of some fields of scientific inquiry to include "ethnoscience," and the role of American Indian science students in furthering its acceptance. (SV)…
(2001). Reflections on Research with, for, and among Indigenous Peoples. Canadian Journal of Native Education, v25 n1 p19-36. An anthropologist of Indigenous descent reflects on challenges confronting researchers in mainstream institutions as they pursue respectful research relationships with Indigenous peoples. Challenges include differing cultural attitudes toward knowledge and research, institutional policies on publication and intellectual property, political issues, the anthropologist's role in the community studied, limits of objectivity, and the possibility of activism. (Contains 34 references.) (Author/SV)…
(2005). Village Elders' and Secondary School Students' Explanations of Natural Phenomena in Papua New Guinea. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, v3 n2 p213-238 Jun. This research investigated the sources of explanations and understanding of natural phenomena in terms of the students' cultural and school science experiences. The first phase involved interviews with eight village elders that probed their explanations and understanding of natural phenomena. The second phase involved the design, development and administration of two questionnaires on natural phenomena to 179 students in a rural boarding high school in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Most village elders gave explanations of many of the phenomena in terms of spirits, spells, magic, religion, and personal experiences. Most school-aged students choose scientific explanations of natural phenomena in terms of what they had learned in school or from personal experiences. However, many choose explanations of the same phenomena about spirits, spells and magic that came from the village, family or home. The study revealed that students' ideas about natural phenomena are strongly governed and… [Direct]
(1986). Australia. Education and Urban Society, v18 n4 p423-36 Aug. Examines educational provisions for ethnic and racial groups in Australia, comprised primarily of the aborigines and the migrants or non-English speaking immigrants. Discussion of the official policies of "self determination" and "multiculturalism" emphasizes the important differences between the two and the considerations given them by the Australian government. (SA)…