Describes traditional Indian education and how it differs from the Euro-American model by utilizing example instead of indoctrination. Notes that experiential and service learning include many key elements of Native approaches. Describes programs developed by the National Indian Youth Leadership Project that combine these approaches with…

A pilot program at Northwest Indian College (Washington) teaches tribal resource management from the Native perspective. The program is built on principles of articulation of both tribal and Western knowledge, support and non-abandonment of students, and developmental education. Student assessment eliminates punitive measures and focuses on…

Interviews with 41 Alaska Native parents examined their perceptions of how children learn the skills and traditional knowledge needed to survive through subsistence activities. Implications and recommendations are discussed for developing school programs and curricula that incorporate traditional knowledge, cultural values, and teaching methods.…

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,…

Defines and documents the interplay between indigenous folk knowledge and modern (western) curriculum practice in African schools. Raises questions of cultural identity. Explores the definition of indigenous knowledge, examines dilemmas that undermine efforts to integrate indigenous education in formal school curriculum, and outlines the rationale…

The purpose of this study was to examine the learning outcomes of students who had recently completed a two-year community-based Native Teacher Education Program (NTEP). The participants were 22 graduates of an NTEP who responded to open-ended items in a questionnaire on what they had learned throughout the program. Four women also participated in…

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…

This article attempts to showcase how one particularly financially endowed organization is seeking to modify its instructional and organizational practice to better serve its Inupiat (Eskimo) target/client population. This is an extreme and instructive situation of socio-cultural tension that provides interesting contrasts with the issues of…

The Western model of education is based on reductionism and linear thinking motivated by profit for those at the top. Globalization is the zenith of this Western reductionist philosophy. Its proponents talk about technology providing access to new vocational opportunities, yet fewer people control more of the resources and services. People find…

From the vantage point of indigenous peoples, the term "research" is inextricably linked to European imperialism and colonialism. In this book, an indigenous researcher calls for the decolonization of research methods. The first part of the book critically examines the historical and philosophical bases of Western research; Western…

The Western paradigm of education regards schools as the essential institutionalized cultural settings in which formal learning can take place and as the only socially valid settings in which learners can get a formal education. Knowledge is commodified and may be exchanged for currency in the form of jobs or licenses. Learning that occurs outside…

This book presents research into the ways in which Indigenous peoples of the Andes create, transmit, maintain, and transform their knowledge, and the related processes of teaching and learning. Most chapters are based on papers delivered at a round-table conference at the University of Cambridge (England) in 1996 and include contributions from…

In a lecture at Navajo Community College in fall 1995, Russell Means discussed freedom and responsibility in our present-day world. He talked about the true nature of education, the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and why Indian peoples must think critically about the educational and government structures constraining them. (Author/TD)

Discusses benefits of incorporating cross-cultural perspectives into environmental science and natural resources training: more productive interactions between tribal governments and environmental scientists, policymakers, and managers; cross-cultural examination of value systems; protection of indigenous knowledge; and increased participation of…

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…