Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2019 - EDUC 394 D100

Special Topics

Decolonizing Place-Based Education

Class Number: 10699

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2019: Fri, 9:30 a.m.–1:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Explores major issues of present concern. Subjects to be taught and the exact assignment of units and prereq will be announced prior to the beginning of each term. Course may be given on a pass/fail basis. A maximum of 12 units in education special topics courses may be used toward a bachelor of education degree or a bachelor of general studies (EDUC) degree. Variable units 2,3,4,6.

COURSE DETAILS:

Place-based education is becoming more widespread in schools, in BC and elsewhere, as an approach to connecting the curriculum with students’ lives and building stronger relationships with communities and with the natural world. According to the new BC curriculum: “In all the areas of learning, teachers are encouraged to teach in ways that respect the place in which the students are.” Furthermore, this approach is explicitly linked to the goal of having students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 “experience Aboriginal perspectives and knowledge as part of what they are learning,” and to the emphasis in the First Peoples’ Principles of Learning on “connectedness, reciprocal relationships and a sense of place.”  

What, however, is place? And what can or should place-based education look like when it takes place on unceded Indigenous land in the context of a long history of colonization? Such questions are central to this course, which is particularly intended for prospective teachers but is open to others interested in decolonizing their own awareness and assumptions and becoming more connected to the land where they live and work. Learning will take place through a variety of readings, on-the-land experiences, encounters with guest speakers and Indigenous communities, and in-class dialogues and activities. The processes and outcomes both of colonization itself and of place-based education across the curriculum will be explored from a variety of perpectives, and students will be encouraged and supported to develop their own projects in self-directed decolonizing place-based learning.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

  • Understand and develop a positive cultural identity and a personal connection to place: 
    • Unpack personal identity, self-concepts of indigeneity and settlerhood and relationship to land and community
  • Recognize and engage with colonialism in its various forms:
    • Observe colonialism along with acts of Indigenous resistance and resilience 
    • Learn to be critical of colonial social structures and thought-processes
    • Understand how colonialism and Eurocentrism affect educational practice
  • Read about, experience, analyze and practice place-based learning in a spirit of decolonization:
    • Through the literature on place-based and land-based education
    • Through literature and personal stories based in Indigenous knowledge and history on Coast Salish territory
    • Through respectful interactions with local First Nations knowledge holders and communities
    • Through mindful participation in place- and land-based experiences
  • Develop a practice of ongoing self-directed place-based learning for decolonization.

Grading

  • Reflective journal and online discussion 35%
  • Personal essay 20%
  • Leading place-based learning 30%
  • Resource toolkit 15%

NOTES:

Reflective journal and online discussion. Throughout the course students will be asked to reflect on class experiences, including the relevance of ideas from the readings and discussions for understanding their own situatedness and learning process. Each week they will produce an entry for their journal in response to a prompt from the instructor; some weeks a structured written reflection will be asked for, in other weeks a variety of responses will be accepted including photos, videos, music and artwork. At the end of the course they will also write an overall reflection on the course as the final entry in their journal, which they will hand in.

Personal essay. At the end of the first part of the course, after 4-5 classes, students will write a personal autobiographical essay on their developing relationship to place, colonization, setterhood and Indigeneity.

Leading place-based learning. Within the second part of the course, students will work in small groups of 2-4 to research, design and lead or facilitate a place-based learning experience, drawing on ideas, examples, knowledge and relationships encountered in class, their own relationships to place, and their understanding of their classmates’ learning journeys.

Resource toolkit. Also within the second part of the course, students will build an online collection of resources for place-based learning and teaching, with a strong but not exclusive focus on Coast Salish territory. Resources can be such diverse things as stories, videos, historical documents, books, articles, groups and organizations, resource people/knowledge holders, and activities based in specific places. Students will add notes about their own experiences learning and teaching with these resources, connecting them to concepts from course readings and discussions. 

REQUIREMENTS:

The course begins with the students and the place; early readings, activities and assignments are designed to help students locate themselves within a historical, cultural and geographical landscape of Indigenous and ecological history, colonization, resistance and resurgence, in Canada and BC more broadly, but also specifically here on unceded Coast Salish territory.

The second part of the course focuses on place-based and land-based education, coming to grips with key concepts and approaches as well as unresolved questions and tensions. Students explore ideas through case studies and themselves designing and leading (or facilitating) place-based learning activities and experiences, including respectful and appropriate encounters with Indigenous knowledge holders and communities. En route they build a shared resource toolkit to draw on in future place-based learning and teaching.

Throughout the course students are asked to reflect on what and how they are learning and to share parts of those reflections with each other and the class as a whole.

Important aspects of the course will take place out of doors and involve walking, listening and observing on trails and sidewalks, in unpredictable weather conditions. Some classes will take place off campus.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Courseware package: Readings in decolonizing and place-based education.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS