Integrating Aboriginal perspectives into the school curriculum : purposes, possibilities, and challenges

Kanu, Yatta 1952- (author.).

Summary: From improved critical thinking to increased self-esteem and school retention, teachers and students have noted many benefits to bringing Aboriginal viewpoints into public school classrooms. In Integrating Aboriginal Perspectives Into the School Curriculum, Yatta Kanu provides the first comprehensive study of how these frameworks can be effectively implemented to maximize Indigenous students' engagement, learning, and academic achievement. Based on six years of empirical research, Kanu offers insights from youths, instructors, and school administrators, highlighting specific elements that make a difference in achieving positive educational outcomes. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, from cognitive psychology to civics, her findings are widely applicable across both pedagogical subjects and diverse cultural groups. Kanu combines theoretical analysis and practical recommendations to emphasize the need for fresh thinking and creative experimentation in developing curricula and policy. Amidst global calls to increase school success for Indigenous students, this work is a timely and valuable addition to the literature on Aboriginal education.Based on six years of empirical research, Kanu offers insights from youths, instructors, and school administrators, highlighting specific elements that make a difference in achieving positive educational outcomes. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, from cognitive psychology to civics, her findings are widely applicable across both pedagogical subjects and diverse cultural groups.Kanu combines theoretical analysis and practical recommendations to emphasize the need for fresh thinking and creative experimentation in developing curricula and policy. Amidst global calls to increase school success for Indigenous students, this work is a timely and valuable addition to the literature on Aboriginal education.

Record details

ISBN: 9781442642447 (bound)
ISBN: 9781442611320 (pbk.)
ISBN: 1442642440 (bound)
ISBN: 1442611324 (pbk.)
Physical Description: print
xiii, 244 pages ; 24 cm.
Publisher: Toronto ; University of Toronto Press, 2012.
Copyright: ©2011

Content descriptions

General Note:	Most chapters include a summary, questions for discussion and references/recommended readings.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Integrating Aboriginal perspectives into school curricula: why does it matter now -- The call to integrate Aboriginal perspectives -- The centrality of cultural mediation in human learning and development -- The effort to reconnect Aboriginal education to its cultural roots -- Integration for intimate and cultural citizenship -- Increasing/broadening our knowledge base in a knowledge society -- Raising essential curriculum questions -- Organization of the book -- To generalize or not to generalize -- On terminology -- Understanding the integration of Aboriginal perspectives through theory -- Role of theory in understanding phenomena -- Theoretical frameworks for understanding school performance of minority students -- Sociocultural theories of learning and cognition -- Macro-structural theories/explanations of minority school performance -- Racism, antiracism, and critical race theories -- Cultural mediators of Aboriginal student learning in the formal school system -- Investigating the influence of culture on learning through a cultural-historical approach -- Research methods and procedures -- Aboriginal students' identification of cultural mediators of their learning -- Related themes -- Theme 1: Indigenous approaches to learning -- Theme 2: effective oral interaction assists learning -- Theme 3: concepts of 'self' mediate learning -- Theme 4: relevant curriculum -- Theme 5: teacher's interpersonal style -- Integrating Aboriginal perspectives into the school curriculum: layering at five levels of classroom practice -- Defining 'Aboriginal perspectives': the challenge of definition -- Guiding principles for integrating Aboriginal perspectives -- The context of Integration -- Integrating Aboriginal perspectives: Layering at five levels of practice -- Integration at the level of student learning outcomes -- Integration at the level of curriculum content and learning resources -- Integration at the level of instructional methods/strategies -- Integration at the level of assessment methods/strategies -- Integration as a philosophical underpinning of the curriculum -- Aboriginal school success through integration? Learning opportunities and challenges -- Documenting the effects of integration: methods and procedures -- Results: impact of integration -- Impact on academic achievement -- Impact on school retention -- Impact on class attendance/regularity -- Challenges -- Concluding mark -- Critical elements of instruction influencing Aboriginal school success -- Teacher's sense of efficacy -- Teacher capacity -- Culturally compatible teaching and assessment methods -- Targeting Aboriginal content and resources -- A nurturing learning environment -- Summary and caveat -- Teachers' perceptions of the integration of Aboriginal perspectives -- Centrality of the teacher to curriculum change -- Investigating teacher's perceptions: methods and procedures -- Teachers' perceptions -- Teacher's beliefs about the integration and reasons for these beliefs -- How teachers understand and approach integration -- What teachers perceive as challenges/impediments -- Facilities of integration -- A way forward: lessons in implementation -- On the need for a reconceptualized theor of curriculum -- Curriculum as currere -- Curriculum as spiritual journey and trandscendence -- Curriculum as conversation -- Curriculum as community -- Teachers and teacher education programs -- What schools should do -- How the Aboriginal community can help -- The need for systematic reform.