Australian indigenous knowledge and cultures In the last 60,000 years Australian indigenous knowledge has advanced through generations.Unlike western culture where knowledge becomes grown and known through written text's,Indigenous knowledge is developed by images, words, patterns, sounds, smells ,tastes on different canvases such as sand, soil, the body and rocks.Furthermore, Since British colonisation in 1788 threats to traditional indigenous knowledge existed then and even more now in modern society. These main threats include:
Political pressure- the recognition and standing of indigenous traditional knowledge, including involvement in policy and legislative development. cultural integrity social and economic pressure-assimilation,poverty, …show more content…
It involves incorporating aspects of indigenous perspectives and culture into school, which aim to improve indigenous learning engagement.(Cooper and Baturo ,2005) Contextualized learning is to enable students to become fluent in a multitude of ways of knowing, to become competent in western culture as well as home culture through bridging indigenous and western ontologies.(cite author)
An example of contextualisation in relation to mathematics education for Australian Indigenous students. They provide an example of a Yolngu community school in Yirrkala, in northern Australia, successfully using Western mathematics and Yolngu mathematics alongside each other. In the Garma mathematics class, Indigenous worldviews and student knowledge of Indigenous kinship systems and patterns were connected with Western mathematical notions; the practice resulted in the students engaging successfully with the learning. Fleer (2008)
Students are able to draw from their own cultural knowledge and …show more content…
Teachers need to use culturally and compatible teaching methods as well as instructions and materials which will help build on students knowledge, skills and strengths. The curriculum needs to also be responsive and respectful to students cultural knowledge structures and practices.
There was a study designed to compare two classrooms, one that was culturally enriched with Aboriginal perspectives, content and resources and responsive to Aboriginal student needs, whilst the other was not. The findings indicated that making classroom curriculum and structures more culturally compatible and in line with the home cultures of students resulted in successful school outcomes for students who were part of the culturally enriched classroom. These students performed dramatically better in Social Studies tests and exams, compared with students in the regular class, and were also more engaged in the subject learning, and had improved self-confidence and higher cognitive
Political pressure- the recognition and standing of indigenous traditional knowledge, including involvement in policy and legislative development. cultural integrity social and economic pressure-assimilation,poverty, …show more content…
It involves incorporating aspects of indigenous perspectives and culture into school, which aim to improve indigenous learning engagement.(Cooper and Baturo ,2005) Contextualized learning is to enable students to become fluent in a multitude of ways of knowing, to become competent in western culture as well as home culture through bridging indigenous and western ontologies.(cite author)
An example of contextualisation in relation to mathematics education for Australian Indigenous students. They provide an example of a Yolngu community school in Yirrkala, in northern Australia, successfully using Western mathematics and Yolngu mathematics alongside each other. In the Garma mathematics class, Indigenous worldviews and student knowledge of Indigenous kinship systems and patterns were connected with Western mathematical notions; the practice resulted in the students engaging successfully with the learning. Fleer (2008)
Students are able to draw from their own cultural knowledge and …show more content…
Teachers need to use culturally and compatible teaching methods as well as instructions and materials which will help build on students knowledge, skills and strengths. The curriculum needs to also be responsive and respectful to students cultural knowledge structures and practices.
There was a study designed to compare two classrooms, one that was culturally enriched with Aboriginal perspectives, content and resources and responsive to Aboriginal student needs, whilst the other was not. The findings indicated that making classroom curriculum and structures more culturally compatible and in line with the home cultures of students resulted in successful school outcomes for students who were part of the culturally enriched classroom. These students performed dramatically better in Social Studies tests and exams, compared with students in the regular class, and were also more engaged in the subject learning, and had improved self-confidence and higher cognitive