Connecting children to nature through the integration of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge into Early Childhood Environmental Education (original) (raw)
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2021
In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this dissertation in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my dissertation work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this dissertation or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is understood that due recognition shall be given to me and the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis.
Children and Nature in Tukum Village: Indigenous Education and Biophilia
Objective: Currently there is a consensus that the actual environmental crisis is resulting from intensive human appropriation of the environment and its creatures and processes. These disconnect between people and nature, characteristic of Western urban culture, also generates consequences on children's quality of life. The general objective of this study is to access indigenous children's environmental perception in its cognitive and affective aspects. In this direction we highlight the role of indigenous school practices in the improvement of biophilia and environmental awareness. Methods: Our qualitative survey adopt a multimethod approach that access children environmental perception from drawing sessions and interviews. The participants are 15 students and their teacher from the Tukum School, one of the 10 indigenous schools from the Tupinambá of Olivença visited in our research from 2014 to 2016. The Tupinambá community is located in Ilhéus, Bahia in Northeast region of Brazil. Results: Our results demonstrate that daily life in natural environments promoted both by culture and by indigenous school promote biophilia and, consequently, environmental awareness among children. The drawings also proved to be a suitable tool to access the feelings and children's knowledge about nature. Conclusion: Western education model that promoted the gap between children and nature can take inspiration in indigenous education in order to promote biophilia and the prevention of health and mental problems among urban children.
The people of Berekum Traditional Area, Brong Ahafo region, Ghana, use their religio-cultural practices to instil and impart traditional ecological knowledge to their youth. Qualitative methodology research identified the main means by which indigenous ecological knowledge is transmitted to students: proverbs, myths, folktales, and rituals. There is evidence that indigenous methods of imparting ecological knowledge and thereby dealing with environmental problems are facing some challenges that appear to have interfered with their effectiveness. These challenges may be attributed to a change in the people’s worldview resulting from cultural contact and modernity. The findings indicate that indigenous ecological knowledge is a potential resource that can complement scientific means of dealing with the region’s environmental problems.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022
Biodiversity pivots life and it's crucial for global sustainable development. Global communities have rich indigenous knowledge systems for biodiversity conservation which are often identified with the older members of the society. Involving children in biodiversity projects is very helpful in 'catching them young' in engaging and campaigning for friendly, sound, and sustainable environmental practices. Unfortunately, efforts have not been dispensed much in instructing and/or involving children in educational projects on indigenous knowledge systems related to biodiversity conservation in Ghana due to the domination of Western knowledge systems. This conceptual paper discusses the possibility of decolonizing the Early Childhood Education curriculum by instructing children, who are the future leaders, to be knowledgeable in the indigenous knowledge systems for biodiversity conservation by picking lessons from similar practices in various countries around the globe. This would incite children in Ghana to engage in helpful biodiversity projects by tapping into the wealth of insight into indigenous ecological knowledge to engage in helpful biodiversity projects. This would charge them in joining forces with the older members of the society in repudiating all negative practices that often result in biodiversity degradation in Ghana.
Journal for The Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 2014
The people of Berekum Traditional Area, Brong Ahafo region, Ghana, use their religio-cultural practices to instil and impart traditional ecological knowledge to their youth. Qualitative methodology research identified the main means by which indigenous ecological knowledge is transmitted to students: proverbs, myths, folktales, and rituals. There is evidence that indigenous methods of imparting ecological knowledge and thereby dealing with environmental problems are facing some challenges that appear to have interfered with their effectiveness. These challenges may be attributed to a change in the people's worldview resulting from cultural contact and modernity. The findings indicate that indigenous ecological knowledge is a potential resource that can complement scientific means of dealing with the region's environmental problems.
in recent years, there has been a call for the retrieval of indigenous knowledge systems relating to the environment to help provide solutions to current environmental problems. Using phenomenological research design, this study explored Ghanaian college teachers' experiences and perceptions of indigenous environmental beliefs and practices and how these influence their role as environmental educators. Findings from analysis of interviews conducted indicate that some teachers are influenced by indigenous beliefs and practices that promote environmental sustainability and these influence their pedagogical practices. We recommend that training of teachers should explore their personal values, attitudes and behavior toward the environment and environmental education to promote effective teaching practices.
2007
The role and value of indigenous knowledge systems in enhancing and contextualizing education has long been recognized (UNESCO, 1978). Against this background a lot of research focusing on the documentation and study of the world’s indigenous knowledge systems, including those of Southern African countries was done. However, within the Southern African context much of this research did not translate into practical curriculum processes leaving educational processes de-contextualized (O’Donoghue, 2002; Mokuku, 2004; Shava, 2005). The linkages between the school, the home and the wider community remained weak (Taylor & Mulhall, 2001). The net effect of the limited integration of indigenous knowledge systems into mainstream environmental education processes has been that indigenous learners (such as those within the Sebakwe rural community) continued to get exposed to two different world views, the western scientific world view and the everyday life world views. The integration of indig...
Southern African Journal of Environmental Education
Indigenous cultural groups have lived sustainably with their natural resources (land, water bodies, forests, wildlife animals and plants) by employing particular culturallyspecific environmental ethics. These include spiritual perceptions about natural environmental resources, totemic beliefs and taboos. Consequently, many scholars in the country have recommended the integration of these culturally-specific environmental ethics in environmental policies and formal school curricula. The purpose of this research was to explore the views of Akan indigenous knowledge (IK) holders and senior high school Biology teachers on challenges they predicted could confront the teaching of Akan culturally-specific environmental ethics in the senior high school Biology curriculum. An interpretivist paradigm with an ethnographic, naturalistic research style, using in-depth conversational interviews was employed to explore the views of research participants. The perceived challenges included stigma at...
Two-Eyed Seeing into Environmental Education: Revealing its “Natural” Readiness to Indigenize
Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 2012
Recent visions for environmental education now include a foundational acknowledgement that the well-being of humans and the environment are inseparable. This vision of environmental education, with a focus on interconnectedness as well as concepts of transformation, holism, caring, and responsibility, rooted in experiences of nature, community, and land and communicated through storytelling, has been the domain and foundation of Indigenous education models for millennia. It is time for the environmental education field to turn to Indigenous education to enrich, renew, and re-focus its goals and core concepts. Using Two-Eyed Seeing as an integrative framework, this paper argues that current pivotal ideas in environmental education such as systems theory, ecological literacy, biophilia, and place-based education can benefit from and connect to foundational values of Indigenous education. Résumé Les conceptions récentes de l'éducation environnementale sont dorénavant fondées sur le principe que le bien-être des humains et l'environnement sont indissociables. Ce point de vue de l'éducation environnementale, qui met l'accent sur les liens réciproques ainsi que les concepts de la transformation, le holisme, la bienveillance et la responsabilisation, qui tient son origine dans les expériences mettant en jeu la nature, la collectivité et la terre, et qui a été transmis par le récit oral, a constitué le domaine et la base des modèles d'éducation autochtones pendant des millénaires. L'heure est venue d'aligner l'éducation environnementale sur l'éducation autochtone afin d'en enrichir, renouveler et réorienter les objectifs et les concepts fondamentaux. Ayant pour schéma global l'Etuaptmumk, soit l' « apprentissage dualiste », le présent article avance que les idées fondamentales circulant actuellement en éducation environnementale, telles que la théorie des systèmes, la maîtrise des notions environnementales, la biophilie et l'éducation locale, peuvent profiter des valeurs de l'éducation autochtone et y tisser des liens