34648 Education: Building on Indigenous Knowledge I ndigenous Knowledge (IK) can act as Building on prior knowledge a powerful tool in a learning environment to teach students. Conventional curricula Educators can avoid "cookbook and achievement tests in many countries, Notes approaches"3 in their teaching and however, do not support students' allow students to "construct" their learning based on their IK. Learning knowledge based on their prior environments need to be adapted to help knowledge4. For instance, educators students build on their indigenous com- can pose problems of relevance to the munities' knowledge and by recognizing students, and value students' points of students' culture and value systems. view, i.e. respect their culture, Educators can further this type of KI tradition, and identity students bring to education by combining appropriate the classroom. pedagogical techniques1. What follows Educators can also use students' are various strategies that can help prior knowledge as a foundation to educators recognize IK that students build on and teach new concepts - this bring with them to learning environments process is known as constructivist and use this as a stepping-stone to help learning. This type of learning http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/default.htm them succeed academically. In addition, creates a "step-by-step" learning three educational programs that have process allowing students to slowly successfully integrated IK into their learn knowledge of a concept accu- projects are highlighted. rately. This also avoids development of alternative conceptions, which often happens when students are Prior Knowledge expected to leap from no knowledge Prior knowledge can be thought of as to a concept. students' experiential knowledge. They are various forms of knowledge students No. 87 gain from living and working in their December 2005 communities and homes or from other IK Notes reports periodically on local activities. Educational research Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives has shown that teaching supported in Sub-Saharan Africa and occassionally on such initiatives with prior knowledge increases outside the region. It is published by students' ability to grasp material the Africa region's Knowledge and taught to them2. In addition, when Learning Center as part of an students find personal relevance in the evolving K partnership between the World Bank, communities, NGOs, material they are learning, they are development institutions, and more apt to retain information. multilateral organizations. The views Therefore, the first important peda- expressed in this article are those of the authors and should not be World Bank gogical technique is recognition of students' prior knowledge, which can attributed to the World Bank Group or its partners in this initiative. A also be thought of as their IK. webpage on IK is available at //www.worldbank.org/afr/ik 2 Motivation World Learning for International Development Helping students learn by building on their prior knowledge World Learning for International Development (WLID) is can also motivate students. Educators can modify teaching a Non-Governmental Organization based in Washington, materials and strategies, and look at how tasks are pre- D.C., USA. Some of the activities in their organization sented, such as making material more personally relevant include: (i) projects in multilateral education and training; to students. Ultimately this will help students develop (ii) improving the quality and equity of education pro- personal interest or motivation regarding the materials grams; and (iii) social advocacy. One of their innovative taught to them. This concept ties into how students can education programs is Popular Participation in Curriculum feel ownership of the information they learn and avoid the and Instruction (PoPCI)1, which focuses on integrating the "banking concept" as discussed by Paulo Friere. IK of a local community into the formal school curriculum. The PoPCI model is based on observations on the Ethio- pian school system regarding the low rate of successful Ownership of Knowledge students graduating from public primary schools. In response to high dropout rates among students, and Incorporating IK into an educational environment can also parents taking their children out of school because they help students feel ownership of the knowledge they bring to failed to see the relevance of the education presented to learning environments. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed them, the PoPCI project added a twist to the conventional Paulo Friere suggest that allowing students or individuals to education system and re-exposed students to knowledge have ownership of their knowledge is equivalent to respect- from their everyday surroundings. ing their culture, tradition, and identity. He writes that The PoPCI initiative teams classroom teachers with educators can avoid teaching students as if they are "local experts" to create and deliver lessons for primary "empty vessels [and] abandon the education goal of school students on relevant topics, or students' IK, such as deposit-making."5 When education is not taught merely as carpentry, pottery, traditional medicines and agriculture. "banking" information, students have the opportunity to For instance, PoPCI brought local blacksmiths, weavers, understand the relevance and meaning of the knowledge and other community resource members into the school. they are being taught. Typically, local occupations, such as the blacksmiths, are The following chart shows how the three pedagogical viewed in these communities as a "lower caste" profes- techniques are linked: sion. The introduction of PoPCI into the curriculum, however, allowed for blacksmiths to overcome this stigma _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ and become part of the formal educational system. This Chart1 effort brought back respect for these professions. Stu- MOTIVATIONAND INTEREST: Students develop dents saw both the teacher and local expert as an author- personal relevance to material taught, leading to personal ity in instruction and an expert in their fields. This process motivationtolearn allows students to value their community knowledge as equivalent to what is taught in school. Students also began to value local and modern sector occupation choices after their graduation. For a student to realize that he or she BUILDINGBLOCKS:Instructionusingpriorknowl- can learn from their community members through the edge formal school curriculum is the most valuable education. Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative project BASE: PriorKnowledge=ExperientialKnowledge= Another example is the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative IndigenousKnowledge project (AKRSI)1, funded by the United States National _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Science Foundation and sponsored by the Alaska Federation of Natives. AKRSI follows a similar template The number of programs that have successfully inte- as PoPCI by incorporating Native Alaskans' knowledge grated communities' IK into educational programs is and culture into the conventional school curriculum. They increasing significantly. Three examples are offered here. do this in a number of ways. As an example, in science 3 classes, students learn about physical concepts of tension, Conclusion force, and weight by studying the snowshoes that Native Alaskans wear. Lesson plans follow the United States IK needs to be addressed and integrated into educational national science standards and at the same time reinforce programs since the reasons for the lack of education in the culture of native students. Another example is the rural areas go beyond access to schooling, affordability, and annual science fair. Students are required to produce lack of resources. When prior knowledge or IK is inte- science projects that include scientific concepts as well as grated into the classroom settings or learning environments, an aspect of their culture. At these fairs, science teachers students better connect to material taught and can become judge students on their science content knowledge and a a major knowledge source for their community's sustain- native elder also judges their performance based on the able development. cultural content. Children's science knowledge and their cultural knowledge are recognized and valued in this manner. Respecting the culture and tradition that Native Alaskan students bring into the classroom is essential to motivate them to attend school and continue to achieve as students. However, motivation is only one aspect of student achieve- ment. When students see their culture represented in the curriculum, they develop self-esteem knowing that they are also an integral part of their school and have the ability as well as the opportunity to study alongside other students. There are several programs like ARKSI throughout the US. Global Fund for Children Global Fund for Children (GFC)8 is an organization based in Washington, DC, USA. GFC provides small grants to education programs around the world and many of the programs recognize IK as a valuable component. For example, one of the projects it funds, through the Vikram Sheila Organization, educates students on mathematics and science concepts based on their agricultural work. In a village outside of Calcutta, India, students are taught basics in mathematics (such as addition and subtraction) by adding and subtracting crops, cattle, etc. on the farm. In addition, students are taught scientific concepts based on their agricultural work. Consequently, education is based on students' occupation and an indigenous context. These projects demonstrate how students unfamiliar with content taught through the conventional curriculum can learn to appreciate it when connections are made to the knowledge they hold from their environment and communi- ties. In addition, students are better able to understand and utilize their surrounding environment and natural resources to develop their community in a sustainable fashion. 4 Footnotes: 1Defined as "the art, science, or profession of teaching." 6Information on PoPCI is based on a presentation by Dr. See Webster's Dictionary (2004) Joshua Muskin, project director 2See Jegede (1999) in Semali and Kincheloe (1999) 7See http://www.ruraledu.org/projects/alaska.htm 3Learning standard methodological approaches 8See www.globalfundforchildren.org, founded in 1994 4See The Case for Constructivist Classrooms, Brooks by MayaAjmera and modeled after the organization and Brooks (1993) "GlobalFundforWomen." 5See Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Friere (1993) This IK Note was written by Deepa Srikantaiah, Consultant,Africa Region,World Bank. For more information, e-mail dsrikantaiah@worldbank.org or rwoytek@worldbank.org