Curriculum Resources
- Secondary Science First Peoples Teacher Resource Guide – This resource provides educators with resources to support the integration of the First Peoples knowledge and perspectives into their Science classroom
- Thematic units:
- 1.Exploring Indigenous Science Perspectives
- 2. Transformation, Genetics and Evolution
- 3. Relationships to Fresh Water
- 4. Shaping the Land
- 5. Place-Based Ethnobotany Inquiry
- 6. Salmon and Interconnectedness
- 7. Connecting Food Security and Climate Change
- 8. Forests and First Peoples
- 9. Hunting and Trapping
- 10. Living Technologies
- Thematic units:
- The Great Bear Sea: Full lesson plans and resources exploring Traditional Knowledge (or Indigenous Knowledge) in connection to resource management in the Great Bear Sea region. Video clips allow students to go on intertidal walks, listen to traditional stories from the region, and learn about sustainability/stewardship practices.
- First Nations: Science and Ethnobotany Unit K-10
- Available in the Aboriginal Resource Library
- Ecoknow: Unit plans that integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge with natural resource management
Interconnectedness/Indigenous Worldview
- Video: Secwepemc World View: Presents the idea of interconnectedness and respect for all things.
- Video: Mary Jack, First Nations Elder, speaker and story teller of the Tseycum First Nation.
- Video: The 6000-Year-Old Village Combining traditional knowledge and western science, this video explores the importance of the Hauyat inlet along the central coast of British Columbia
- Website: Sacred Relationship is a research, film and educational project that explores how reconciling the relationship between Indigenous people and the rest of Canada can protect our water.
- Website: Assembly of First Nations: Honouring Earth: This overview of Indigenous Worldview, explains the interconnectedness between all living and non-living beings on this earth
- Coursera: Indigenous Relationship to the Land Part 1 University of Alberta: The videos attached to this resource provide an overview of Indigenous Worldview and the impact of historical settlement patterns/contemporary resource extraction
- Coursera: Indigenous Relationship to the Land Part 2 University of Alberta This video highlights how the people within the Denés?liné territory continue to practice their traditional subsistence lifestyle and continue to accumulate knowledge and learn from the land
- Article: Two Sides of One Mask – This article explores the blurred line/relationship between the human and animal world, a reminder that the two are really one, and all beings, even the little ones, have a big presence at the table.
- Other stories that discuss this topic:
Plate Tectonics/Geological Processes
- Article: The Great Quake and the Great Drowning: Discusses the various Indigenous stories describing the mega-quakes and tsunamis that have impacted the Pacific Coast of North America. Audio available.
- Article: Dating the 1700 Cascadia Earthquake_
- Website: Pacific Northwest Seismic Network: Tales from Hoh and Quiluete This website has a number of oral stories from the various Indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest and their experiences with the seismic activity in the area
- Website: Story of Xá:ytem / Hatzic Rock
- Website: SFU Time Immemorial is an interactive resource that shares the stories of transformer stones throughout Stó:l? traditional territory.
- Story: Man Turned to Stone, T’xwelátse is a story connecting Mount Cheam and Mount Baker
- Video: Gwaii Haanas Legacy Pole explains the crests caved onto the pole commemorating the 2012 earthquake that hit Haida Gwaii
- Book: The Two Sisters by Pauline Johnson discussed the creation of the Two Sisters in Squamish
- Book: People of the Land: Legends of the Four Host First Nations Traditional narratives that describe how local physical features came to be created
- Other areas of study include:
- Nisga’a lava beds (volcanic eruption)
- Gitxsan narrative of the Mountain Goats of Temlaham (landslide)
- Creation of the Rocky Mountains
Sustainable Practices
- Film: Since Time Immemorial -How Indigenous People Are Reviving Traditional Stewardship
- Kit: Clam Gardens and Sustainable Practices
- Available in the Aboriginal Resource Library
- Article: Clam Digging through 3,500 Years of Indigenous History New research using radiocarbon dating and analyses of ancient landscapes reveals that the aquaculture technology used to create the clam gardens is the remnants of a technology at least 3,500 years old
- Website: The Clam Garden Network -a group of First Nations, academics, researchers, and resource managers from coastal British Columbia, Washington State, and Alaska who are interested in the cultural and ecological importance of traditional clam management practices and features
- Video: A Wall Worth Building: Making Clam Habitat Great Again This video explores how Indigenous communities cultivatated clams by manipulating beaches to encourage the growth of more and bigger shellfish, and how local communities are reinvigorating the ancient practice of clam gardening.
- Interactive Website: Climate Change Adaptation: – Traditional Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples Inhabiting the Arctic and Far North.
- Video: Mysteries of Ancient Clam Gardens – Tom Sewid, from the Mamalilikulla Qwe’Qwa’Sot’Em territory, takes us on a tour of the ancient clam gardens (lo’hewae) of coastal British Columbia.
- Film: Smashing Urchins for Kelp – the people of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, tended a complex ocean ecosystem. They have now launched a program to restore the kelp forest by maintaining a smaller sea urchin population so kelp has a chance to re-establish its dominance
- Video: Ancient First Nations Archaeology Midden Site
- Article: How British Columbia’s Coastal People Fertilized the Forest – documented instances of midden material being intentionally used as fertilizer
- Landscape Burning
- Video: Imagine the Fire – Explore the Indigenous practice of controlled fires
Climate Change
- Video: The Elders are Watching by David Brouchard is a story discussing the importance of respecting our environment and a message of concern from Aboriginal leaders to promote change.
- Video: Autumn Peltier, 13-year-old water advocate, addresses UN to discuss the need to protect out water systems.
- Article: Permafrost Thaw in Northern Canadian Arctic and First Nations Communities suffering ‘more intense’ impacts of climate change
- Article: Climate change, Health, and Vulnerability in Canadian Northern Aboriginal Communities – Evidence suggests that Canada’s North is already experiencing significant changes in its climate—changes that are having negative impacts on the lives of Aboriginal people living in these regions
DNA
- Activity: Extracting DNA from Strawberries Experiment – The Home School Scientist
- Activity: Squishy Science: Extract DNA from Smashed Strawberries – Scientific American
- Article: Study Finds Epigenetic Differences Between Hatchery-Raised and Wild-Born Salmon -researchers suggest that hatchery rearing selects for alleles for certain traits, such as a tolerance for crowding, that make fish more likely to thrive in confinement, and that these same features work against the animals in the wild.
Ethnobotany: The study of regional plants and their connection to traditional practices
- Film: Indigenous Plant Diva – Kamala Todd’s short film of Cease Wyss, of the Squamish Nation. Wyss is a woman who understands the remarkable healing powers of the plants growing all over downtown Vancouver.
- Film: Dr. Nancy Turner talks about the seasonal round; people’s connection to land, plants, and nature; sustainability; and respect for all life forms.
- Article:Not One Single Berry – Nancy Turner discusses how Traditional Ecological Knowledge will help us understand and respond to environmental change.
- Surrey School District: Walking Curriculum
- The Healing Power of Plants Virtual Museum
- Saanich Ethnobotany: Culturally Important Plants of the WSANEC People Available in the Aboriginal Resource Library
- TEK Unit 2 by Dr. Judy Thompson. These activities help students apply understandings of Traditional Ecological Knowledge to plant identification, classification, traditional cultural practices and nutrition.
- Book: Lessons from Mother Earth
- Kit: Plants and Connection to Place
- Available in the Aboriginal Resource Library
Oral Narratives/Creation Stories
- Audio: Thomas King, The Truth About Stories Massey Lecture – The woman who fell from the sky. 17:30min to 36:30 min
- Book: People of the Land: Legends of the Four Host First Nations – Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh narratives
- Book: Legends and Teachings of Xeel’s, the Creator by Ellen Rice White
- Book: River of Salmon Peoples – discusses interconnectedness
- Sinixt Nation: Chaptikwl (Stories)
- Coyote meets the Wind and the Sinixt
- How the Columbia River Came to Be
- Mountain Goat Brings Huckleberries
- Frog Mountain Story (includes video)
- Coyote at Kettle Falls
Professional Development