Students design project with traditional knowledge

The traditional knowledge of Aboriginal Elders will lend a hand to classroom teaching if three students from the Northern Teacher Education Program (NORTEP) have their way with shaping education curriculum.
As fourth-year students of the program - Morris Elderkin, Sheldon Landry, and Devin Bernatchez - began a class project in January that focused on using traditional ecological knowledge to teach science lessons.
"It's knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation, like how to survive off the land and how to respect nature and all living things," said Elderkin, who is a band member of the Peter Ballentyne Cree Nation.
The idea arose when a professor told them Aboriginal knowledge could be incorporated into science. So the three students set out a plan to gather resources through interviewing Elders and other research.
"They have had four months out doing their internship (teaching) in classroom," said their instructor Deborah Gibson-Dingwall. "And while they're in the classroom, they're supposed to be reflecting on something they think is very important to them or something they see is a need for northern Saskatchewan children and teachers. The main criteria is that it will be a project that is useful to them when they become teachers, it will be useful to them and other teachers across northern Saskatchewan," she said.
The team chose to work on traditional ecological knowledge, particularly on incorporating the Dimensions of Science Literacy (DSL's) into lesson plans that focused on northern activities.
"I think it's a real passion for all three of them. And going about it in the proper manner, in order to respect the Elders and the knowledge, was something they really, really worked on," Gibson-Dingwall added.
Bernatchez, a Lac La Ronge band member, said the valuable knowledge Elders share can't be taken for granted.
"You really have to appreciate their time and their effort in teaching you this stuff and you always present them with a gift, either dry meat or cranberries or some sort of tobacco or you give them a gift, just for taking their time," he said.
Both Elderkin and Bernatchez agree the lessons apply not only to science but other subjects as well and can be modified for any age.
"You'd have to look at your foundational assessments in the curriculum," Elderkin stated. "The foundational objectives they're what have to be taught, but your teaching objectives can be modified." This is where teachers can bring in the traditional ecological knowledge and gear it towards a specific group.
Elderkin points out the ways that traditional ecological knowledge can be taught to students. For instance, he said,they can go out of the classroom and onto the land to learn about plants used for medicines. They can also look at the ways animals were once used for survival.
"(They) can learn about moose; have students learn how to preserve meat and smoke it, dry it. And the anatomy of an animal, what bones were used for what tools for scraping hides, what parts when cooked can be boiled, fried, smoked ... it goes on," he said.
He points to the Elders as valuable to teaching this aspect of the lessons because they are the keepers of knowledge and use stories that catch the interest of the learner. He also said this approach is needed because the Aboriginal population in Saskatchewan is growing and there's little mention in the curriculum about Aboriginal people. "We feel that it's important that there is more Aboriginal content being taught in schools across Saskatchewan. If this breaks down all the things with racism and stereotypes, they'll have appreciation for Aboriginal people, and how they have lived and all the knowledge that they have to offer," he said.
As for Bernatchez, he said the traditional knowledge would teach Aboriginal students to respect Elders, be proud of their identity, strengthen traditions, and care for the environment.
"I think today's society, with the children being influenced by this new wave of technology and the ever-growing consumer life, you could say, there's a lot of youth not respecting the elders. They're not really respecting their traditional roots and they're moving towards a different lifestyle. And we see a lot of problems in our Aboriginal communities and non-Aboriginal communities, but especially in our Aboriginal communities where our children are losing their traditions," he expressed.
"If they can grasp some of these teachings then it might heal and help some of these problems that we have. A huge problem right now, everybody knows, the environment is being taken for granted. Up here in northern Saskatchewan we have the mines that are taking resources out of our traditional lands every day."
Bernatchez said during the interviews, an elder told him a story that showed the great impact humans have on the environment. The story demonstrated that if all the insects were eliminated from the world everything would die, on the other hand, if people were eliminated, the world would flourish."That was one thing that stood out in my mind and I guess as teachers we have to bring in these Elders and get them to tell these young students about the old ways and try to inspire them to become environmentalists," he said.
The students presented the project in Regina at the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority's 2008 Earth Day conference in April. "It went really well, we used a lot of humour, we got the attention of a lot of people out there. People who write the curriculum, students, teachers, professors," Elderkin said. "When we first started off it was solely for us three as student teachers, but after the conference with people interested in the project, a lot of them wanted these resources to help them with their teaching."
He adds that traditional ecological knowledge can be taken from non-Aboriginal Elders as well, for urban teachers who would like to use the knowledge in non-Aboriginal classrooms.
Bernatchez said they are trying to be advocates for Aboriginal knowledge in the curriculum. "The NORTEP program has really helped bring Aboriginal teachers into the schools (and) has been a credit towards what we're trying to do too," he said. "And I just want to acknowledge Deborah Gibson-Dingwall and Sheldon Landry, because he also had a large part in the format and the development of the presentation."
Landry, who is from the Canoe Lake First Nation, was unavailable for the interview.
Elderkin and Bernatchez said they plan to use the information they gained through their project in their future teaching careers. However, at this time they have not laid out any definite plans of where they are going to teach.
NORTEP is a four-year education program based in LaRonge that leads to a Bachelor of Education degree in Secondary or Elementary education. Students may choose either a regular Arts-based program or a program with greater emphasis on science courses.