Category:Indigenous pedagogy

Indigenous Pedagogy

The word, "pedagogy" means to study (-gogy) while you walk (ped-) with a mentor or Elder. Currently the word pedagogy simply means "teaching methods." Indigenous pedagogies are teaching methods used by indigenous peoples. Pedagogy is how a lesson is taught, not what is taught. It is the method used for teaching, not the subject matter. Many subjects can be taught using indigenous pedagogies. For example, an indigenous way to learn history is to listen to the stories of the Elders of a community. Another example would be learning methods that include hands-on activities using materials from the natural world where the learning is connected to the real life of the student, such as creation stories, traditional dance, etc.

A Sense of Place

Indigenous pedagogies are often connected to a specific place. History of a people along with the physical and moral lessons learned are sustained through generations by connecting the stories to "Place."^[1]

Indigenous Pedagogy: Astronomy

The Big Horn Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, USA, is a site where indigenous pedagogies for learning astronomy can take place.^[2][3] The Big Horn Medicine Wheel is one of a few stone wheels of complex astronomical design. It is categorized as a Subgroup 6 by John Brumley.^[4] Currently only four of these types of medicine wheels are publicly known.

1. ↑ Keith Basso, Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache, New Mexico Press, 1986
2. ↑ Leo Bird, Blackfeet Astronomer, Public Talk, Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT, 2005
3. ↑ Exploratory Research of the Big Horn Medicine Wheel: Acting as an Indigenous Place-Based Pedagogical Instrument for Learning Sky-Earth Relationships, Skywatching Fundamentals and Celestial Mechanics, Ivy Merriot, PhD Dissertation 2014 Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana
4. ↑ John Brumley, Medicine wheels on the Northern Plains: A Summary and Appraisal, Manuscript series / Archaeological Survey of Alberta, 1988