Disrupting STEM Education by Braiding Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Environmental Education

Abstract

Learning is inherently connected. It is time to disrupt traditional STEM education by meaningfully embracing multiple perspectives such as Indigenous and environmental education learning principles. Through my story as a white non-indigenous science teacher, we explore the importance of acknowledging one’s feelings, the power of storytelling, my journey educating myself and embracing multiple perspectives inside my teaching practice. Because Aboriginal Ways of Being state that the “the deepest learning takes place in lived experience” (BCTF, 2017), I share my process and reflections on designing and implementing a specific unit about clam gardens in a secondary science classroom.