Production 1 VB
The indigenous ways of knowing and emergent knowledge are ways of learning and knowledge that are far different from Westernized knowledge systems.
Indigenous knowledge is holistic, living, and active (Brayboy & Maughan, 2009, p. 12). For example, the Indigenous student teacher said that if they are learning about planting seeds, there must be a purpose for planting the seeds—teachers must teach about the whole process, life, and purpose of the seed (e.g. for nourishment). The student teacher made a stark contrast between how Indigenous communities would learn about the seed, and how non-Indigenous teachers teach the material. She said that it does not make sense to talk about the sand because it is not only the incorrect environment for a seed to grow (thus wasting the life of the seed), but once students see the result, it just becomes nothing more than experimental information (Brayboy & Maughan, 2009, p. 14). This highlights one of the issues with Westernized knowledge systems, that being, grasping knowledge as something to be attained or memorized. This links to this week’s readings as well as literacy became something of a mass production, such as following the business model of scientific management in the late 19th century and early 20th century (de Castell & Luke, 1983, p. 96). Here, learning would be measured by how much students were able to regurgitate information passed down from the teacher. The ability to memorize and repeat information makes the learning passive. We can use Indigenous knowledge systems in current teaching pedagogies to encourage students to think about how the content relates to the local, global or international community that they live in. For example, if I am in a grade 1 class teaching them about community and what makes up a community, I could take them on a local walk to examine the types of institutions that exist within that community. We could talk about what their parent(s)’ occupations are and include some parents to guest speak about their jobs. The type of learning that occurs in the Indigenous communities involve not just the learner, but those around them. This is an aspect of Indigenous knowledge systems that Westernized educational institutions could learn from.
Daagu knowledge is about celebrating the diversity and differences of each individual learner and collective group of learners. Mitchell et al. wrote, “[c]omplexity pedagogy invites teachers to a place of possibility-with-uncertainty, where teachers invite students, through resources and critical questions, into spaces of thinking, challenging, and conversing with others” (2016, p. 212). Though many students who are part of that e-learning and digital space come from different disciplinary backgrounds, experiences, and have different perspectives, they bring so much content and rich ideas for discussion on the platform. Learning then, goes beyond the traditional notion that teachers are the all-knowing entities in the classroom, to which everyone in the learning space has something relevant to offer. Consequently, teachers go in with an attitude of learning, and learn how to listen to facilitate the discussion in the right direction (through asking questions, making new connections, providing alternative viewpoints, etc.) (Mitchell et al., 2016, p. 211). This is the same attitude that teachers should have in the classrooms, they should see how valuable it is to capitalize on their students’ prior knowledge, experiences, and ideas. I do it all the time in my class, and I actually find that I spend less time planning rigidly (only preparing probing questions), if I recognize that my students have their own level of expertise to bring to the table. For example, we started focusing on Remixing content in our Media Literacy class, and some of the ideas that the students talked about included: mixing content from two different mediums together, changing the beat of a familiar song and revising it to sound different, and taking an already existent form of media and transforming it. They understood that we can do a remake of an old movie, make a song remix, have two versions of the same story (Sleeping Beauty versus Maleficent), and more. Teachers have started to include students to drive the direction of the classroom following curricular content, and this is something that more teachers should be following as it works successfully in Daagu platforms.
The holistic and active nature of Indigenous knowledge and learning relates to the complexity pedagogy of Daagu as well. The aspect of wholeness—that everything is interconnected and dynamic—fits closely with the Indigenous knowledge systems (Mitchell et al., 2016, p. 209). I am reminded of the conversations that some indigenous student teachers had about the seed, and how they were talking about how they would plant the seed differently, according to the procedures that their community had taught them. The different procedures that each community follows is a great starting point of critical reflection, acceptance, and tolerance of others. When there are conflicting viewpoints or discrepancies with ways of knowing, these moments are good learning opportunities for everyone. This can be especially beneficial in a mathematics classroom. For example, if students are given a proof, Prove 1+2+3+⋯+n=n(n+1)/2, for every natural number n, then students may come up with various strategies. One strategy might include using a diagram and area of 1x1 blocks to understand the formula. Another strategy could be to use symmetry of the summation of 1+2+…+(n+1)+n as the terms increases by 1 on the right, but decreases by 1 from the left, which gives the same value 1+n. Another student might have thought of using Gauss’ solution. Furthermore, a student could have used a proof by induction to show that this is indeed, true. Here, a gallery walk would take place, and students can thus present their thought process of proving this formula. Students would be given opportunities to ask each other questions, reflect on the multiple routes that were shown, make connections between grade levels and mathematical content, and broaden their thinking when it comes to thinking about mathematics. A classroom that encourages diversity and differences is a classroom that is inclusive. Focusing on the process and encouraging diversity go hand in hand, which is what the Indigenous knowledge systems and Daagu platform can teach us.
I would like to finish off my reflection with this quote, “[i]n my culture, we are very careful to make sure that every decision we make is thought about before we act. You don’t plant some seed just because. It has a purpose and carries more stuff with it” (Brayboy & Maughan, 2009, p. 9). This statement highlights a prevalent issue of using technology for technology’s sake in the classroom. We should not be using technology because it is the status quo, or because we are trying to modernize the classroom. I have seen many teachers who incorporate technology in their lessons, that do not know when to appropriately use it, are not aware of its various features, and end up using it to substitute traditional forms of technology in the classroom. We even talked about this during class about the replacement of paper with iPads. I think that even if we know how to use the technology, we need to think about the question does it make sense to use the technology in this instance? What is the benefit of incorporating this technology, and what is the purpose of implementing this technology as part of my lesson? If we are going to want to effectively implement and use technology in our classes and schools, it is important for the students, colleagues, and ourselves to be computer literate if we are to think about using technology tools in the classroom.
References
De Castell, S., & Luke, A. (1983). Defining ‘literacy’in North American Schools: Social and historical conditions and consequences. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 15(4), 373-389.
Jones Brayboy, B. M., & Maughan, E. (2009). Indigenous knowledges and the story of the bean. Harvard Educational Review, 79(1), 1-21.
Mitchell, G. J., Cross, N., George, O., Hynie, M., Kumar, K. L., Owston, R., ... & Wickens, R. Complexity Pedagogy and e-Learning: Emergence in Relational Networks.
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