Indigenizing PostSecondary Curricula with Indigenous Curriculum Specialists: A Pilot Collaborative Study at University of Ottawa
This project critically examines the strategies employed by the Faculty of Social Sciences’ Indigenous Curriculum Specialist (ICS) to Indigenize the FSS’s course curricula; the challenges and opportunities these strategies present for the FSS faculty, teaching assistants (TA), students, and staff; complementary approaches deployed by ICSs at other universities for Indigenizing post-secondary course curricula; and the various resources, knowledge, skills and incentives required to implement effective strategies at uOttawa and beyond. This project is supported by Social Science and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant with Karine Vanthuyne, Geneviève Gauthier and Nicholas Ng-A-Fook as co-applicants. Read more…
Bâtir des liens : Mobiliser les histoires autochtones pour le changement social – Building Connections: Mobilizing Indigenous Histories for Social Change
Bâtir des liens : Mobiliser les histoires autochtones pour le changement social | Building Connections: Mobilizing Indigenous Histories for Social Change is a two-and-one-half-day symposium exploring promising practices to support the efforts of Indigenous communities to collect, preserve and mobilize their oral and written histories, and to advance the efforts of both Indigenous and settler K-12 schools and post-secondary institutions to incorporate these histories into their history education programs. The Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies (IIRS) and the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, are organizing the symposium in collaboration with the Histoire au Canada: Perspectives des Premiers Peuples project, initiated by the Cégep de l’Outaouais, the Kiuna Institute, the Kitigan Zibi First Nation Cultural Education Centre, the Avataq Cultural Institute and La Boîte Rouge VIF. This project is supported by Social Science and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant with Stanley, T., & Ng-A-Fook, N., & Lemay, D. as co-applicants. Read more…
Co-Curricular-Making: Honouring Indigenous Connections to Land, Culture, and the Relational Self
As allies in teacher education, the team behind this project seeks to identify respectful ways for educators to decolonize pedagogies. Our community and university partners will each commit their own education-oriented resources and expertise. We seek to walk together to map
out needed curricular sensibilities, understandings, and enactment, to enhance our efforts towards reconciliation. Our goals are to articulate reciprocal curricular pathways for educators and their students; to enhance understandings of Indigenous cultures and supports related to these groups; and to mobilize local, place-based, land-based First Nations ways of knowing and being. This project is supported by Social Science and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant with Latta, Macintyre, L., Ragoonaden, K., & Cherkowski, S., & Donald, D., & Hare, J., & Styres, S., & Ng-A-Fook, N. as co-applicants. Read more…
Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future
The overall goals and objectives of the partnership are to nurture a community of interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral inquiry among academic historians, researchers based in faculties of education, Indigenous scholars, graduate students, educators in museums, archives, and historic sites, and practicing teachers to: (1) map the terrain of history education in K–12; (2) ascertain to what extent history and social studies teaching helps students engage with the key issues or problems facing Canadian society today; (3) identify and develop evidenced-based practices in history teaching, learning, assessment, and resource development, and evaluate their efficacy in providing powerful and engaging learning experiences for students, particularly in terms of building trans-systemic understanding across knowledge systems; and more. This project is supported by Social Science and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant with Peck, C., & Gibson, L., & Ng-A-Fook, N., Mclean, L., et. al. as co-applicants. Read more…
Just because we’re small doesn’t mean we can’t stand tall: Reconciliation education in the elementary classroom
This project studies the impacts of the Caring Society’s social justice-based reconciliation education campaigns on elementary teachers and students. Findings from the study will inform the creation of professional development workshops, sample lesson plans, and age-appropriate resources to help educators respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action to transform the educational system in Canada. This project is supported by Social Science and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant with Blackstock, C., & Ng-A-Fook, N., & Shultz, L., Bennett, S., Bearhead, W. C., et. al. Read more…