Indigenous 8 Ways of Knowing
Eight Aboriginal Pedagogies
Draft Report for DET on Indigenous Research Project conducted by Tyson Yunkaporta, Aboriginal Education Consultant, in Western NSW Region Schools, 2007-2009:Aboriginal Pedagogies at the Cultural Interface (Chapter 2 p7-10)
The eight Aboriginal pedagogies engaged for the research project are outlined below.
Deconstruct/ Reconstruct
This way of learning organises notions of holistic, global, scaffolded and independent learning orientations and “concentrates on understanding the overall concept or task before getting down to the details.”
Learning Maps
This way of learning is about making those overall shapes of structures in texts, activities and courses explicit in a visual way for Aboriginal learners. Image serves as an anchor or reference point for the learner.” (Hughes and More, 1997)
Community Links
This way of learning draws together the research describing Aboriginal pedagogy as group-oriented, localised and connected to real-life purposes and contexts (e.g. Christie, 1986).
Symbols and Images
This way of learning enfolds the recurring concept in Aboriginal pedagogy research of our students being primarily visual-spatial learners (Hughes, 1992). It focuses on symbols at the micro level of content rather than the macro level of processes.
Non-verbal
Kinaesthetic, hands-on learning is a characteristic element of this Aboriginal way of learning (Robinson and Nichol, 1998). Another dimension of this is the role of body language in Indigenous pedagogy (Craven, 1999) and the use of silence as a feature of Aboriginal learning and language use (Harris and Malin, 1994).
Land-links
This pedagogy is about relating learning to land and place. The strong Aboriginal connection between land and knowledge/learning is widely documented (Battiste, 2002; Shajahan, 2005). Aboriginal pedagogies are intensely ecological and place-based, being drawn from the living landscape within a framework of profound ancestral and personal relationships with place (Marker, 2006).
Story-sharing
This way of learning harnesses well-documented Indigenous teaching methods that make use of personal narratives in knowledge transmission and transformation (Stairs, 1994). It has long been observed that Elders teach using stories, drawing lessons from narratives to actively involve learners in introspection and analysis (Wheaton, 2000).
Non-linear
This way of learning encompasses all non-sequential Aboriginal pedagogy – a complex cycle of learning composed of multiple processes that occur continuously It is not constrained by the serial and sequential nature of verbal thinking (Gibson, 1993).
Western Views and Indigenous Culture
However, this is the point at which western and Indigenous pedagogies are often incorrectly constructed as irreconcilable. To remedy this divisive tendency, this way of learning also encompasses non-linear Indigenous ideas of overlap and synergy, choosing to view the two worlds as complementary rather than oppositional (Linkson, 1999). After all, it is limiting to view all mainstream knowledge as linear when there are excellent western non-linear frameworks available like De Bono’s (1996) Lateral Thinking. So this way of learning is not only about presenting learning in cyclic and indirect ways – it is also about avoiding dichotomies by finding common ground and creative potential between diverse viewpoints and knowledge domains.
Draft Report for DET on Indigenous Research Project conducted by Tyson Yunkaporta, Aboriginal Education Consultant, in Western NSW Region Schools, 2007-2009:Aboriginal Pedagogies at the Cultural Interface (Chapter 2 p7-10)
The eight Aboriginal pedagogies engaged for the research project are outlined below.
Deconstruct/ Reconstruct
This way of learning organises notions of holistic, global, scaffolded and independent learning orientations and “concentrates on understanding the overall concept or task before getting down to the details.”
Learning Maps
This way of learning is about making those overall shapes of structures in texts, activities and courses explicit in a visual way for Aboriginal learners. Image serves as an anchor or reference point for the learner.” (Hughes and More, 1997)
Community Links
This way of learning draws together the research describing Aboriginal pedagogy as group-oriented, localised and connected to real-life purposes and contexts (e.g. Christie, 1986).
Symbols and Images
This way of learning enfolds the recurring concept in Aboriginal pedagogy research of our students being primarily visual-spatial learners (Hughes, 1992). It focuses on symbols at the micro level of content rather than the macro level of processes.
Non-verbal
Kinaesthetic, hands-on learning is a characteristic element of this Aboriginal way of learning (Robinson and Nichol, 1998). Another dimension of this is the role of body language in Indigenous pedagogy (Craven, 1999) and the use of silence as a feature of Aboriginal learning and language use (Harris and Malin, 1994).
Land-links
This pedagogy is about relating learning to land and place. The strong Aboriginal connection between land and knowledge/learning is widely documented (Battiste, 2002; Shajahan, 2005). Aboriginal pedagogies are intensely ecological and place-based, being drawn from the living landscape within a framework of profound ancestral and personal relationships with place (Marker, 2006).
Story-sharing
This way of learning harnesses well-documented Indigenous teaching methods that make use of personal narratives in knowledge transmission and transformation (Stairs, 1994). It has long been observed that Elders teach using stories, drawing lessons from narratives to actively involve learners in introspection and analysis (Wheaton, 2000).
Non-linear
This way of learning encompasses all non-sequential Aboriginal pedagogy – a complex cycle of learning composed of multiple processes that occur continuously It is not constrained by the serial and sequential nature of verbal thinking (Gibson, 1993).
Western Views and Indigenous Culture
However, this is the point at which western and Indigenous pedagogies are often incorrectly constructed as irreconcilable. To remedy this divisive tendency, this way of learning also encompasses non-linear Indigenous ideas of overlap and synergy, choosing to view the two worlds as complementary rather than oppositional (Linkson, 1999). After all, it is limiting to view all mainstream knowledge as linear when there are excellent western non-linear frameworks available like De Bono’s (1996) Lateral Thinking. So this way of learning is not only about presenting learning in cyclic and indirect ways – it is also about avoiding dichotomies by finding common ground and creative potential between diverse viewpoints and knowledge domains.
Summary of 8 Ways of Knowing
Chapter 4 from the PhD of Dr. Tyson Yunkaporta which outlines the 8 ways of Knowing
Whilst there has been a strong focus on ways on more traditional ways of knowing using data and evidence, there are other ways of knowing through an indigenous perspective.
|
In the CSIRO book Diversity in Chapter 6.
|