As Aboriginal peoples gain more access to schools of social work, the academy needs to respond to their educational needs. This involves incorporating Aboriginal worldviews and research methodologies into social work education. This paper focuses on one definition of worldviews according to Aboriginal epistemology and implements an anti-colonial…

The article presents the author's views on the important role of tribal colleges in shaping the social and cultural development of their tribes. The author says that even small tribal colleges can manage programs that promote wellness, economic development, and basic scientific research. Tribal colleges need to develop culturally based approaches…

This paper examines the role of history in power relations which suppress Indigenous knowledges. History is located as being about power and about how the powerful maintain their power. The paper further examines the Bering Strait theory/myth and ways that discourses in history combine with discourses in science to devalue Indigenous knowledges.…

This article describes a unique approach to Indigenous community development through community-based education partnerships between First Nations and postsecondary institutions in Canada. Using a "generative curriculum model," Indigenous knowledge is brought into the process of teaching and learning by community Elders, and this is…

In spite of the changes that 100 years of Americanization have produced, the American Samoa people overwhelmingly identify themselves with their culture. They are proud to be Samoan; they are committed to the "fa'a-Samoa" or the Samoan way of life. The desire to balance American ways with the unique values that make up the Samoan sense…

In Zimbabwe the need to incorporate indigenous knowledge in science education to reflect local cultural settings cannot be overemphasized. Current policies on science are situated in Western cultural definitions, thus marginalizing indigenous knowledge, which is misconceived as irrational and illogical. This study used qualitative research…

A 56-year-old Canada Native took a college course on Australian Indigenous approaches to knowledge. He observed that initially many students were hindered by their past experience with linear paradigms of structured academic processes. Eventually they let their minds access spirit and feeling in addition to thought, allowing a recall of life…

Following the first significant research into Indigenous methods of learning, it was argued that Indigenous students could learn western knowledge using Indigenous ways of learning. Subsequent research contradicted this finding to take the position that Indigenous students must learn western knowledge using western methods and so this set the…

The article offers the author's comments on the Niitsitapi Education Program initiated by Red Crow Community College in Canada. The program was aimed at promoting Kainai knowledge and culture as the basis for student learning. The program was widely appreciated by students as well as their parents. It was harder than the regular teaching program…

An American Indian professor describes how he uses Western science metaphors in his freshman science writing course to help students realize that Western science is only one worldview based on cultural assumptions. Gradually, he introduces Native concepts of science including the interconnectedness of all things, responsibility to the community,…

A 10-day summer science camp for high school students at an ecological research station in the Canadian tundra combines outdoor education and science education. Experiences with Dene elders led staff to implement their traditional teaching methods using the landscape as teacher. All classes are held outside, and a Dene couple complements the staff…

To identify diverse student strengths and to learn how teachers can build instruction on those strengths, the author and his colleagues have conducted multiple studies among students in Alaska, the mainland United States, Kenya, and other countries. In a series of studies in Alaska and Kenya, the researchers measured the adaptive cultural…

In written texts the culture of colonised subjects is often depicted as immutable and homogeneous. This is evident in the context of New Zealand where representations of Maori frequently serve to reinforce these depictions. This article investigates the potential of critical literacy approaches to challenge student teachers' commonly held beliefs…

As part of her Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education course, Therese McLaren was asked to imagine how issues the Social Contexts of Secondary Education class was reading about and discussing impact upon the work of teachers. To that end, students were asked to think deeply about one of the topics addressed in the semester, and to frame a…

A curriculum developed by the University of California for American Indian natural resource workers blends traditional knowledge of ecology and management with Euro-American scientific principles. The trophic pyramid provides an example for teaching the underlying principles of natural resource management, including reciprocity and interdependence…