Indigenous Knowledge and STEM

“Indigenous youth need to know that our ancestors have always engaged in high-level, critical thinking. It might not have been called science or mathematics or STEM back then, but the youth need to believe that the intellect needed to master westernized concepts of mathematics and science is present in blood and lineage” (Garcia-Olp et al., 2019, p.702). The schooling experience must “…foster realities that tell Indigenous youth that their ancestors were scientists and that inherently makes them scientists” (Aikenhead & Elliott, 2010; Bang & Medin, 2010; Bang, Warren, Rosebery, & Medin, 2012; Castagno & Brayboy, 2008; Howard & Kern, 2019; Miller & Roehrig, 2018 as cited in Garcia-Olp et al., 2019, p.692).

STEM: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

What Does it Mean to Indigenize STEM?

"Learners who saw themselves as becoming capable of doing mathematics, capable of doing science, capable of engaging with Indigenous perspectives in teaching and learning. Because they are engaged in their own becoming, when the STEM emerges they pay attention to it instead of dismissing it as something they cannot do, something that has no connection to who they are, or something that they fear” (Borden & Wiseman, 2016, p.150).

“Traditional societies, many of them with strong cultural roots, have nurtured and refined systems of knowledge of their own relating to such diverse domains as astronomy, meteorology, geology, ecology, botany, agriculture, physiology, psychology, and health. Such knowledge systems represent an enormous wealth. Not only do they harbour information as yet unknown to modern science, but they are also expressions of other ways of living in the world, other relationships between society, nature, and other approaches to the acquisition and construction of knowledge” (Battiste, 2013, p.118).

Mathematics Teaching Framework 

Inquiry-Based Learning Effects on Mathematical Proficiency (Capaldi, 2015, p.289):

1. Conceptual understanding: Constructing new examples, conjectures, or proofs leads to a deeper understanding.

2. Procedural fluency: Spending class time solving problems or going over student work provides procedural understanding.

3. Strategic competence: Struggling through problems without previously seeing similar examples allows students to learn problem-solving skills.

4. Adaptive reasoning: Guided questions can lead students to think about what previous material will help them for a new problem.

5. Productive disposition: The success of completing hard problems leads to pride and a better understanding of what mathematics involves as a discipline.

“These practices- including, amongst many, feasting and gifting rituals, petroglyphing, body ornamentation, singing, dancing, drumming, weaving, basket making, and carving- were simultaneously art, creative expression, religious practice, ritual models and markers of governance structures and territorial heritage, as well as maps of individual and community identity and lineage” (Townsend-Gault & Duffek, 2004; Walsh, 2002 as cited in Muirhead & De Leeuw, 2012, p.2).

“In Indigenous cultures, the production of artistic works or participation in creative expression is woven into the fabric of everyday life, and can include the creation of functional items, such as clothing and baskets; items of spiritual significance, such as totem poles and masks; and participation in songs, stories, and dramas that are used to pass on myths and traditions” (Dufrene, 1990; Harvev, 2000 as cited in Muirhead & De Leeuw, 2012, p.5).