Indigenous Science Network Bulletin http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mmichie/network.html

April 2011 (Volume 14, Number 2) ISSN 1449-2091 Editor: Michael Michie

Tiwi designs by Jennifer Coombs, Melville Island, NT

NEWS and VIEWS

Giving voice to science from two perspectives: a case study Nikki Wright, Earl Claxton, Jr., Lewis Williams, and Ta m m y Paul

This chapter reports on a very successful internship involving experiences with a community- based traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom (TEKW) environmental project and a university-based science water quality project. Snitcel (pronounced sneakwith) is Senćoten for the place of the blue grouse, a special place to Wsáneć [Saanich] First Nations communities. This traditional territory was utilized for hunting, fishing, shellfish gathering, and sacred ceremony and was historically considered a safe settlement during winter months. The project reported in this chapter grew out of an authentic ecological restoration effort led by a not-for-profit agency that attempted to restore native aquatic plants in a small bay in the Salish Sea. The restoration extended into native terrestrial plants in the surrounding park lands of the bay, which borders a -renown botanical tourist attraction. This authentic science, technology, , and environment setting served as the context for a community-based, ethnobotanical program that involved internships for first nations people; it also provided opportunities to border-cross between TEKW and science and to build leadership capacity. The program increased the capacity of first nations youth to enter science-related careers—both traditional indigenous and western science—and increased understanding of how has been and is presently used in the place of the blue grouse. This chapter describes the evolution of the program, some of its challenges, and its significance in the larger community.

(This is a summary of chapter 4 in Yore, L.D., Van der Flier-Keller, E., Blades, D., Pelton, T. & Zandvliet, D. B. (Eds.). (2011). Pacific CRYSTAL Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Literacy: Lesson Learned. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: SensePublishers (https://www.sensepublishers.com/), ISBN: 978-94- 6091-504-8 (paperback), ISBN: 978-94-6091-505-5 (hardback), ISBN: 978-94-6091-506-2 (e-book).)

Advancing Indigenous through knowledge engagement Far more needs to be demanded of service deliverers and people responsible for interacting with Indigenous communities to facilitate cultural understanding, according to a academic.

Charles Darwin University Professor of Governance, Don Fuller has co-authored a paper illustrating the need for two-way knowledge engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous .

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Published in the Journal of Social and Economic Policy, “Aboriginal Economic and Human Development in the Northern Territory of Australia: A Clash of Non-Indigenous Beliefs”, has been co-authored with Scott Holmes, Jeremy Buultjens and CDU’s Susan Bandias.

Professor Fuller said raising the living standards of Indigenous Australians, especially in Northern Territory remote communities, was one of the major challenges facing Australia today.

“There are a large number of people living in communities typified by conditions of poverty, poor health, high crime, alcoholism and other forms of ,” he said.

“Research suggests that welfare payments have placed many Indigenous Australians in a poverty trap undermining culturally acceptable norms of behaviour and traditional values and relationships within Indigenous communities.”

Professor Fuller said it was necessary that Indigenous people be seen as more than just “clients” by public and private deliverers of goods and services.

“Those who deal with Indigenous communities should be chosen because they are interested in Indigenous people and have empathy and a willingness to learn and understand Indigenous values, cultural practices and understandings,” he said.

“There needs to be a heightened preparedness to be involved in ‘two –way’ cultural understandings, shared knowledge and communication,- across the range of employment, sporting, social and cultural activities regarded as important by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.”

Professor Fuller said he believed the task required far more organisational and individual intellectual commitment, interest, involvement and understanding than was occurring presently.

(http://ext.cdu.edu.au/newsroom/a/2010/Pages/110214-AdvancingIndigenousAust.aspx)

BIITE, CDU agree on hub opportunities for Aboriginal and Islander people will take a major step forward this week when the Northern Territory's leaders in Indigenous education sign a landmark agreement.

Batchelor Institute for Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE) and University (CDU) will sign the Australian Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Education (ACIKE) Establishment and Governance Agreement at a ceremony on BIITE's Batchelor campus.

The Centre, which is being built on CDU's Casuarina campus, will be co-managed and run by CDU and BIITE staff and will house state-of-the-art instructional, research, teaching and computer facilities. The Centre is scheduled for completion in mid 2012.

CDU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Barney Glover said the Centre would significantly expand Indigenous education in the NT.

"The Centre will increase the capacity of CDU and BIITE to deliver positive outcomes to Indigenous communities and the Higher Education sector in areas relating to Indigenous knowledge and education," Professor Glover said.

The Centre will be responsible for teaching and research in the multi-disciplinary fields of Indigenous knowledges and other general disciplines including nursing, education and arts at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

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BIITE Director, Adrian Mitchell said the new ACIKE facility will be a valuable additional resource for Batchelor Institute staff and students.

“We look forward to working closely with Charles Darwin University and building on the existing strengths of both organisations,” he said.

“The new facility will enable us to jointly put in place a wider range of delivery options and services to support the successful participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in higher education, particularly in the areas of health, education and Indigenous Knowledges.”

(http://ext.cdu.edu.au/newsroom/a/2010/Pages/110322-BIITE,CDU.aspx)

INDIGENOUS ASTRONOMY

Australian Aboriginal Astronomy Project The Australian Aboriginal Astronomy Project, centred within the Department of Indigenous Studies (Warawara) at Macquarie University, is a collaboration of academics and Indigenous Elders that are researching the astronomical knowledge and traditions of Indigenous Australians.

I have started a blog on Aboriginal Astronomy, which I will update about once a week, covering our latest research, educational material, information about upcoming talks, meetings and events, and general knowledge on the subject. Our work is rigorous and we are in close collaboration with Indigenous Elders and communities.

Blog: http://aboriginalastronomy.blogspot.com/

Astronomy is a great way to educate the general public about Indigenous , as it is a topic everyone finds fascinating!

Cheers, Duane Hamacher

Some recent papers from the Aboriginal Astronomy Project A few papers of ours were recently published on Aboriginal Astronomy (since November 2010).

Meteoritics and cosmology among the Aboriginal of http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011arXiv1103.0595H

"Bridging the Gap" through Australian Cultural Astronomy http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011arXiv1103.1928H

Astronomical Symbolism in Australian Aboriginal Rock Art http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011RArtR..28...99N

Comets in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010arXiv1010.0801H

Australian Aboriginal Geomythology: Eyewitness Accounts of Cosmic Impacts? http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010arXiv1009.4251H

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An Aboriginal Australian Record of the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010JAHH...13..220H

STARLORE website (http://sa.apana.org.au/~paulc/index.html) Welcome back to the STARLORE website. It has been sometime since I have been able to update my site due to work and other commitments. As a New Year's resolution I vowed to finally get back to work maintaining this website. This site is dedicated to the many indigenous cultures of our world. This site has a focus on 'ethnoastronomy', which concerns itself with the cultural aspects of astronomy and how the world's various groups perceive the night sky. The major aim of this website is to share with you some of the diverse stellar lore from around the world with a particular focus on the night sky of Indigenous Australians. Many of us live in cities or countries that now have excessive light pollution and pollution in general, so the skies are not as clear as say 5,000 years ago. However, many us still watch the nightly ballet of stars above and ponder about the celestial majesty displayed before us.

The STARLORE website is maintained by Paul Curnow.

The Boorong Night Sky and Stellarium Alex Cherney and John Morieson

Stellarium is a free planetarium program for a computer. It shows a relatively realistic sky as seen with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It has multiple sky cultures - the constellations from the traditions of Polynesian, Inuit, Navajo, Korean, Lakota, Egyptian and Chinese astronomers, as well as the traditional Western constellations. At the Lake Tyrrell Star Party in October last year John Morieson and Alex Cherney discussed how to incorporate John’s research into Stellarium and make it easy for everyone to visualise how the Boorong people may have seen the night sky. John had built up over the years a series of sketches and images which suited and Alex placed them into the Stellarium program. Discovery Science & Technology Centre offered financial assistance to get the constellation figures professionally designed. A few months later the project has been completed and the Boorong Night Sky lives again. Below is the screenshot of an evening view of Northern sky as it appears at Lake Tyrrell in early April.

To see it on your computer you need to download Stellarium for Windows version 0.10.6.1 or later from the Stellarium website: http://www.stellarium.org and then download and install the Boorong sky culture from this web address: http://www.terrastro.com/boorong. Information on the Boorong can be found at www.johnmorieson.com.

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RESOURCES Bridging Cultures: Indigenous and Scientific Ways of Knowing Glen Aikenhead & Herman Michell. (2011). Bridging Cultures: Indigenous and Scientific Ways of Knowing Nature. Don Mills, ON, Canada: Pearson Education. (www.pearsoncanada.ca/bridgingcultures)

Book Summary This book supports science teachers, teacher candidates, and science educators preparing to implement science curricula that recognize Indigenous knowledge as a foundational way to understand the physical world. Indigenous and scientific ways of knowing nature have similarities and differences, as well as strengths and limitations. By exploring these in detail based on academic scholarship, the book guides the reader in building their own cultural bridges between their scientific world and the world of an Indigenous community; bridges that lead to a culturally responsive science classroom. These cross-cultural capabilities can be applied to multicultural classrooms in urban settings.

Based on the experiences of cross-cultural science teachers and researchers worldwide, including the authors’ experiences, the book concludes with practical general advice that helps prepare teachers for developing science lessons and units that combine the two knowledge systems according to a ministry or department of education’s expectations.

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The book demonstrates how the intellectual tradition of the scientific community coexists with the wisdom traditions of Indigenous communities. This benefits the scientific literacy and insights into nature of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. The goal of a cross-cultural school science is for all students to learn the best from Indigenous and scientific ways of understanding nature.

For more information, including the contents, contact Glen Aikenhead. (At the time of writing, Glen has advised that the book can only be ordered online in Canada but he is trying to rectify this situation with Pearson.)

Cultural Studies of Science Education Three papers of interest to members of the network have recently been published in the Online section of this journal.

Chigeza, P. (Online). Cultural resources of minority and marginalised students should be included in the school science curriculum. Abstract This paper responds to Schademan’s ‘‘What does playing cards have to do with science? A resource-rich view of African American young men’’, and takes a resource-rich view to explore the notion of agency and elements of cultural resources that minority and marginalised students bring to the classroom. The paper examines the deficit model, the need to adopt capacity building perspective, and a classroom study, which sought to contextualise capacity building with a group of Australian indigenous students in a science class. As science educators, we need to reject the deficit model by developing capacity building pedagogies that affirm minority and marginalised students’ lived languages, experiences and knowledge in their learning.

Chinn, P.W.U. (Online). Malama I Ka ‘Aina, Sustainability: learning from Hawai‘i’s displaced place and culture-based science standard. Abstract This response to Mitchell and Mueller’s ‘‘A philosophical analysis of David Orr’s theory of ecological literacy’’ comments on their critique of Orr’s use of the phrase ‘‘ecological crisis’’ and what I perceive as their conflicting views of ‘‘crisis.’’ I present my views on ecological crisis informed by standpoint theory and the definition of crisis as turning point. I connect the concept of turning point to tipping point as used in to describe potentially irreversible changes in coupled social-ecological systems. I suggest that sustainable may provide models of adaptive learning in which monitoring of ecological phenomena is coupled to human behavior to mitigate threats to sustainability before a crisis/tipping point is reached. Finally, I discuss the Hawai‘i State Department of Education’s removal of its Indigenous science content standard Malama I Ka ‘Aina, Sustainability and its continued use in community-based projects.

Carter, L. (Online). Gathering in threads in the insensible global world: the wicked problem of globalisation and science education. This is an overview for a special issue of Cultural Studies of Science Education.

... and from the Journal of Research in Science Teaching Johnson, C.C. (2011). The road to culturally relevant science: Exploring how teachers navigate change in pedagogy. Journal of Research in Science Education, 48(2), 170-198. Abstract: In this study, two middle-school teachers who participated in a professional development program utilizing the transformative professional development (TPD) model are followed as they embarked upon becoming culturally relevant science teachers of Hispanic students. Using Ladson-Billings (1994) theory of culturally relevant pedagogy, teacher interviews, focus groups, journals, and field notes are examined to reveal aspects of culturally relevant pedagogy that the participants translate into their daily science instructional practice in this longitudinal case study. Findings revealed TPD enabled participants to transform their practice to focus on culturally relevant science pedagogy resulting in a more effective instructional environment for their Hispanic students. Implications for further research on professional development and other supports for teachers integrating culturally relevant pedagogy are discussed.

Indigenous Weather Knowledge This website, http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/, operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, contains weather knowledge for a number of language groups in Australia. It seems to have been expanded recently to include the Miriwoong weather knowledge.

(I would like to include similar weather knowledge from other places, both in Australia and elsewhere. If you know of similar sites, please let me know. Ed.)

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ICASE (International Council of Associations for Science Education) Newsletter March Issue: http://www.icaseonline.net/newsletter/icase_03_2011.pdf

Past issues: http://www.icaseonline.net/news.html

Bulent CAVAS

Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education I would like to inform you that the first issue of 2011 of the EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and & Technology Education is now available freely from the journal web site (www.ejmste.com).

Please send your scholarly contributions to [email protected]

The EURASIA Journal is abstracted and indexed by 18 international institutions including ERIC and SCOPUS (to see more please click on http://www.ejmste.com/abst_and_indexing_info.htm)

M. Fatih TASAR

International Journal of Environmental and Science Education (IJESE) The new issue of the International Journal of Environmental and Science Education (IJESE) is now available web at: http://www.ijese.com/currentissue.htm

Regards, Dr. Mehmet Bahar

Recent books Wilson, Shawn. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing. Indigenous researchers are knowledge seekers who work to progress Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing in a modern and constantly evolving context. This book describes a research paradigm shared by Indigenous scholars in Canada and Australia, and demonstrates how this paradigm can be put into practice.

Relationships don’t just shape Indigenous reality, they are our reality. Indigenous researchers develop relationships with ideas in order to achieve enlightenment in the ceremony that is Indigenous research. Indigenous research is the ceremony of maintaining accountability to these relationships. For researchers to be accountable to all our relations, we must make careful choices in our selection of topics, methods of data collection, forms of analysis and finally in the way we present information. (back cover)

Hokowhitu, B., Kermoal, N., Andersen, C., Petersen, A. Reilly, M., Altamirano-Jimenez, I., & Rewi, P. (2010). Indigenous identity and resistance: Researching the diversity of knowledge. Dunedin, NZ: Otago University Press. This book is the outcome of lndigenous Studies scholars in Canada, New Zealand and the Pacific working together in research conversations that transcend the imperial boundaries of the colonial nations in which they are located. Their lucid, accessible, and thought-provoking essays provide a critical understanding of the ways in which lndigenous peoples are rearticulating their , knowledges, and the lndigenous self. (back cover)

Recent thesis Michie, Michael. (2011). Working across cultures in indigenous science education. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

ABSTRACT The research in this thesis considers the ability of westerners, primarily teachers, to work cross-culturally with indigenous students in four of the settler states, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. It looks particularly at identity learning as a way in which westerners enhance their understanding and attitudes to another culture. Identity learning, and culture shock as an associated process, is examined in relation to the ideas of border crossing and culture brokerage.

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A number of issues were raised, some through the literature, which became foci for the research. Examination of border crossing indicated that some westerners were successful as cross-cultural communicators but did not suggest why. Discussions of cultural borders gave rise to their critique as being essentialised but failed to suggest how this was to be overcome. Anthropological models did not give any characterisation to the role of culture broker, although the ethnohistory literature gave some insight. The influence of culture shock on westerners working in indigenous communities in the settler states was not particularly understood nor its relationship to identity learning explored.

A qualitative methodology is used involving a series of interviews with eight participants who were considered to be experienced in cross-cultural communication with a background in education. From the interviews a series of narratives were written which revealed their experiences and understandings particularly about their border crossings, culture brokerage and opinions regarding teaching indigenous students and teaching them science. These narratives became the major source of data for analysis. This research shows that many westerners who are successful working in cross-cultural settings value the culture of their indigenous hosts. This is the consequence of enhanced identity learning and can be the result of culture shock. Not all westerners learn to value the other culture and may either leave the community or stay for some other reason. Border crossers are able to think beyond the limitations of an essentialised ‘we and they’ dichotomy and locate themselves in other ways relative to the border. Culture brokerage is a strategy that individuals choose to use, sometimes on the behalf of a government or institution. The characteristics of an effective culture broker are those of a border crosser and this establishes a nexus between border crossing and culture brokerage.

Suggestions regarding preparation to teach in indigenous communities reflect the enhancement of identity learning and promotion of border crossing. Preservice training should include experience practicum teaching with indigenous students. Effective teaching of indigenous students could be supported by hiring experienced teachers and extending their stays. All teachers who go to work in indigenous communities need to be aware of culture shock and its possible impact and mechanisms for minimising its impact need to be established through mentoring programs. The context of the students needs to be taken into account by consideration of their culture and appropriate interpretation of the curriculum and implementation of teaching strategies. Teachers need to acknowledge that they are in positions of power but need to negotiate that respectfully with their indigenous students. As teachers of science they need to have a more inclusive idea of the nature of science so they can facilitate the border crossings of their indigenous students.

An electronic copy of the thesis is available from the author.

Book review Lindsay, David. (2011). Scientific writing = thinking in words. Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing. AU$29.95. (http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/21/pid/6529.htm)

This book is essentially about how scientists should approach the various kinds of scientific writing which they encounter. The author is an experienced scientific writer and he gives advice on how to approach scientific writing, particularly but not exclusively writing articles for scholarly journals. He makes it clear from the outset that publishing in journals is an integral part of the scientific process rather than a later add- on. He also suggests that up to one half of a practising scientist’s time “involves writing, correcting the writing of others, or reading” (p.107), so that the principles he expounds could help lighten their work.

Lindsay doesn’t resort to a template approach to writing but he does break the scientific article into its physical elements. He examines each of these in detail, giving sound advice on each element. Lindsay’s area of expertise is in animal biology and although he uses examples from that area, it is possible to apply his advice seemingly to all areas of science. At over 100 pages, there’s plenty of advice. His main purpose is for scientists to write clearly with understanding, although he also addresses the politics of publishing.

Lindsay covers a number of other types of text, including oral presentations at conferences, posters, reviews, writing for non-scientific audiences and theses. In each case he explains the difference in rationale in writing the text. In the area of oral presentations I felt he could have given more advice on the effective preparation of PowerPoint presentations, rather than resorting to the expression, “audio-visual aids”, which these days seems archaic. His section on posters seems to be more accepting of new technology.

The potential audience for this book includes scientists and scientists-in-training. The practices that Lindsay suggests are probably applicable to some professional scientists but there is value in including them in the training and professional development of younger ones at university and in the workplace.

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Michael Michie

CONFERENCES World Conference on Education (WIPCE) 14-18 August 2011 Cusco, Peru http://wipce2011.net/us/inicio.htm

The World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WIPCE) was created to bring together indigenous organisations, academics, professionals of education and students from around the globe to share, diffuse and promote best practices in education polices and development programmes for indigenous peoples of the world.

Each WIPCE congress offers lectures, workshops, panel discussions and cultural activities in order to contribute to the valuable exchange of successful educational projects between indigenous communities from all over the world.

In 24 years and nine congresses, WIPCE has attracted a regular audience of 3000 native people from around the world.

WIPCE 2011 is being held for the first time in Latin America! The magical city of Cusco expects that Guaranies, Aymaras, Mayas, Mapuches, Quechuas and other indigenous communities of Latin America will be represented for the first time in a WIPCE Conference.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

This is mostly a summary of upcoming conferences. More details may have been given in this or previous bulletins as shown. A web-based contact is usually included. Inclusion of conferences in this list is not to be read as an endorsement of the conference.

2011

April 2011 3-6 April: National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) annual conference, Orlando FA, USA (http://www.narst.org/annualconference/2011conference.cfm)

8-12 April: American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2011 Annual Meeting - New Orleans, Louisiana. Theme: Inciting the Social Imagination: Education Research for the Public Good. (http://www.aera.net/) (Aug10)

June 2011 19 – 21 June: Research Based Undergraduate Science Teaching: Investigating Reform in Classrooms, Bryant Conference Center, University of Alabama Campus, Tuscaloosa, AL (http://nseus.org) (Feb11)

29 June – 2 July: Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA) annual conference, SA. (http://asera.org.au/index.php/annualconf/2011-annual-conference) (Dec10)

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July 2011 10-13 July: Conference of the Australian Science Teachers Association (CONASTA60), Darwin NT. Science at the Top. (http://www.conasta.edu.au/conasta_60_information.html)

August 2011 14-18 August: World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WIPCE), Cusco, Peru (http://wipce2011.net/us/inicio.htm) (April11)

September 2011 5-9 September: ESERA 2011 Conference, Lyon, Centre de Congrès, FRANCE. Science learning and Citizenship. (http://www.esera2011.fr/). (Dec10)

19-23 September: 1st World Conference on New Trends in Science Education (WCNTSE), Kusadasi- Turkey (http://www.wcntse.org/) (Feb11)

November 2011 15-17 November: Fourth International Conference on Science and Mathematics Education(CoSMEd) 2011, Penang, Malaysia (http://www.recsam.edu.my/cosmed/index.html) (Feb11)

December 2011 7-10 December: 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULAR CULTURE AND EDUCATION, Centre for Popular Culture and Education, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Conference website: http://home.ied.edu.hk/~hkpop/conference2011.html (Feb11)

2012

February 2012 12-15 February: Seventh International Conference on Science, Mathematics & Technology Education. Transformations through Science, Mathematics and Technology Education: Towards an Innovative and Sustainable Society. Muscat, Oman (http://smec.curtin.edu.au/conference.cfm) (Feb11)

March 2012 24-28 March: National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) annual conference, Indianapolis IN, USA (http://narst.org/)

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