Page 436 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

34 Responding to Glocalisation and Foundationalism in Science and Math 411

and Indigenous knowledge) was that students first need a firm grounding in their
language, culture and Indigenous teachings. It is only after students have developed
a strong sense of identity that they are ready to experience a more critical-based
education. To me, this means that in science education, the incorporation of Elders,
language, culture and land-based experiential learning are paramount in the early
to middle years of education; in the older grades, students may experience a more
global approach to science.
It is the re-affirmation of the phrase “Local is Global” and the incorporation of
prioritizing the local as a pedagogical framework that will help students eventually
understand global contexts. What did we find when we asked educators involved in
teaching Indigenous students science? We found that in the Canadian Indigenous
context incorporating language, culture, Elders, traditional knowledge and experi-
ential learning into all aspects of learning are foundations that can help ground
Indigenous students. Students can examine more global ideas with an ability to
evaluate “foreign” ideas from their own Indigenous worldview.
My question for Luitel and Taylor is: what does a glocalised curriculum look
like? And was Dr. Luitel’s proposed program one such example? I see the intent
and the value to the discussion but would like to invite teachers to sit at the table.
I am curious about your understanding of glocalisation. How does it relate to your
situation, as a leader at a post-secondary institution that has a mandate and its very
foundation is to create pedagogy and curriculum grounded in local Indigenous
knowledge?
Sincerely,
Dawn

Dear Dawn,
I am happy that you have had a safe return from Thailand. I know how much
you enjoy this summer program, and the opportunity to work with pre-service
teachers in the Thai context. This work you are doing is so important to creating
an awareness within graduating teachers that there are multiple learning styles that
require teaching that is “outside the box” of Eurocentric thinking which has, since
European contact era, informed the foundational approaches to education. I am
always amazed at how much of an epiphany it is when educators realise that “non-
eurowestern” approaches can have a greater impact or relevancy on learning
experiences, particularly for Indigenous learners. Quite honestly, I found Luitel
and Taylor’s paper interesting. Yet I was also very concerned that the realisation
of the cultural and local experiences, from the authors’ perspective, was dis-
counted as a narrow viewpoint and equated with a predominant eurowestern
worldview.
I do remember our first interactions and how we had to work through some of
the lived experiences from our respective pasts to ensure trust as friends, researchers
and writers. These interactions brought us both to the realisation that we value
Indigenous concepts of relationship or kinship, which, from my lived experience,
is a process that most non-Aboriginal people do not have the patience for, particu-
larly, non-Aboriginal academics.