Teaching food knowledge through a card game

Abstract

Maintaining and revitalising languages calls for extensive supporting materials, materials which are relevant to the domains of knowledge that people wish to master, and which are culturally safe relative to local pedagogies. For sustainability, such materials should also be easy to create, and not dependent on significant outside expertise and technology. Over a period of two years, the authors worked with local people on the ground to establish a domain and safe learning methods, and codesigned a card game focused on food knowledge. The cards contain images of plant and animal foods, and facilitate teaching and learning of food practices. We conducted an evaluation of the cards and how people use them, and this revealed how the cards help to create a safe space for learning, and how they are flexible as to the domains of knowledge people wish to maintain. The evaluation also established that this approach is effective for supporting knowledge transmission in the interests of language maintenance and revitalization.