"Every place, every people, has its own unique pedagogies" - 8ways wikispace
Aboriginal practices and processes (pedagogies)
increased Aboriginal knowledge and perspectives
Workshop Overview
Week 8:
Your workshop will focus on Yunkaporta's research on the "8 Aboriginal ways of learning". Central to his pedagogy framework is the notion that "Every place, every people, has its own unique pedagogies". With this in mind, address the following:
- Provide a brief overview of Yunkaporta's research and the development of the "8 Aboriginal ways pedagogy".
- What does the concept "unique pedagogies mean in terms of embedding Aboriginal knowledge into the curriculum?
- How could this framework be applied to a KLA or across the curriculum?
- Develop a case study or activity that encourages students to think about using the 8 ways in their discipline area.
Part 1: Yunkaporta's "8 Aboriginal Ways" pedagogical framework
Part 2: Classroom Application
Part 2
Part 1
Classroom Application:
- "Unique pedagogies" and the curriculum
- Using the "8ways" in KLA's.
"Unique Pedagogies"
Tyson Yunkaporta:
8 Aboriginal Pedagogies/ "8ways" Framework
Different places, different pedagogies!
- Research, Development & Overview
“These 8 simple ones are merely a starting point for dialogue. Each school engages in a different way, and produces its own unique frameworks for Aboriginal education through dialogue with the community about local ways of doing things.” - 8waywiki
The Eight Aboriginal Pedagogies: "8ways"
"8ways is flexible.
- Incorporation of Aboriginal pedagogies, not just the surface aspects of culture.
- Cultural competence – navigating the “unique pedagogies” of every student’s cultural heritage.
Aboriginal and Western pedagogies
are inherently opposed.
- Removes “cultural bridges” created by the heavy focus of Eurocentric knowledge and pedagogy in the school system.
-Awareness
-Attitude
-Knowledge
-Skills
There is overlap between Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal systems.
- The dominant culture creates an un-equal power relation.
Story Sharing
- Transmission of information
- Grounding classroom knowledge into the personal and wider narratives.
Community Links
- Group-orientated
- Localised
- Real-life application (reflects values)
- Community involvement; using data and charts to show community values
How to start embedding “unique pedagogies” into your curriculum:
- Presenting learning visually
- Anchor/ reference point to refer to.
- Using diagrams or visualisations
- Organise information holistically/ as a whole, then break it down.
- Learning in wholes rather than parts.
- Learn the overall concepts, before getting into the details
- Use the "8ways" as a starting point
- Engage with the local community
- Consult reliable online resources
e.g: 8ways wikispace
https://8ways.wikispaces.com/
Bringing Aboriginal knowledge into the classroom
- Non-tokenistic
- Not just content and information about Aboriginal people.
- Focus on epistemology as well are representation.
“Focusing on the similarities between the two systems of knowledge rather than on their differences may be a more useful place to start when considering how best to introduce educational reform.”
Battiste, 2002, pp.11
Non-verbal
- Kinesthetic/ hands on learning
- Body language, testing knowledge non-verbally through experience.
- Touching objects and photos, etc.
Non-linear
- Knowledge is cyclic; things in our world interconnect; multiple processes which occur at once.
- Information needs to try and reflect that
Learning through culture, not just about culture.
Symbols and Images
- Using the senses to build a symbolic meaning
- Done on a smaller scale to learning maps
- Linking concrete knowledge to abstract knowledge
- E.g. show local paintings, pictures and familiar symbols.
Land Links
- Always connecting classroom content to the local environment
- Knowledge is connected to the land.
- E.g: using maps of local area
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/illustrations-of-practice/detail?id=IOP00184
E.g: Science
- Visit local native gardens
- Classify local plants, using both the scientific and the Aboriginal terminology
Applying the framework to specific KLAs
Touches on: Land-links, Community Links, re-deconstruct and reconstruct, & symbols and images
http://www.aboriginalstudies.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/8Ways-small.pdf
http://8ways.wikispaces.com/Eg%27s+Mixed
E.g. English
Links between the "8ways" and the Quality Teaching Framework (QTF)
- Choose a relevant text type
- Teacher and students share stories re: impact of technology
- Learn broad concepts first, before specific examples.
- Present the effects as inter-related
Activity: In small groups, connect each of the 8 Pedagogies to one or more of the concepts from the QTF.
Touches on: Deconstruct/ reconstruct, story-sharing and non-linear
Take Home Messages:
- "8ways" framework helps embed "unique pedagogies into the curriculum and KLAs.
- The framework is flexible.
- Community is key.
Activity
In groups of roughly 4:
1) Pick a Key Learning Area (science, history, geography etc), and then a specific topic in that KLA. E.g. Science: Theories of Evolution, Geography: Year 7 Mapping.
2) How could you use this “8Ways” to teach this topic? Think of some general ideas and then a specific lesson or activity that uses several of these pedagogies.
3) Map your ideas on your sheet of cardboard.
Curriculum Matters 1: 8 Aboriginal Ways of Learning
Take Home Messages:
- Focus on processes, not content; your students will learn through culture, not from it.
- Use the "8ways" pedagogical framework to embed these unique processes into curriculum and KLAs.
- Community is key
References:
8ways.wikispaces.com,. (2015). 8ways - home. Retrieved 7 September 2015, from https://8ways.wikispaces.com/
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers,. (2015). Eight Ways of Learning. Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/illustrations-of-practice/detail?id=IOP00184
Board of Studies NSW (2009). English HSC: Syllabus and support documents. Sydney: Board of Studies.
Hatcher, A. (2012). Building cultural bridges with Aboriginal learners and their ‘classmates’ for transformative environmental education. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2(4), 346-356.
Harrison, N., & Greenfield, M. (2011). Relationship to place: Positioning Aboriginal knowledge and perspectives in classroom pedagogies. Critical Studies in Education, 52(1), 65-76
Karaminas-Gilbert, R. (2015). The Eight Aboriginal Ways of Learning. Presentation, http://www.aboriginalstudies.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/8Ways-small.pdf.
Perso, T. F. (2012). Cultural Responsiveness and School Education with Particular Focus on Australia's First Peoples: A Review & Synthesis of the Literature. Menzies School of Health Research.
What Works. The Deadly Ways To Learn Project. Retrieved from http://www.whatworks.edu.au/4_2_1.htm.
Yunkaporta, T. (2009). Aboriginal Pedagogies at the Cultural Interface. Draft Report for DET on Indigenous Research Project conducted by Tyson Yunkaporta, Aboriginal Education Consultant, in Western NSW Region Schools, 2007-2009. Darlinghurst: DET
Josephine Sarvaas & Naomi McGowan