"Start with where you are": The View of Indigenizing STEM Curriculum from Educational Outreach

Abstract

As educational institutions in Canada respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 “Calls-to-Action” by exploring what it means to “indigenize” curriculum, the process is complex and requires contributions from multiple angles of education, including informal education. This is particularly important for STEM education, where the exclusivity of western-centric notions of science and technology must be re-evaluated to provide a more culturally-aware offering. The unique position of informal education programs like educational outreach provides a unique outlook that offers lessons that formal education can benefit from. To explore this unique position in indigenizing, we use a qualitative study with Geering Up, a STEM educational outreach program at the University of British Columbia, and members of K’omoks First Nation on nearby Vancouver Island. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 members of Geering Up and 4 members of K’omoks First Nation, and identified themes that ought to inform how educators and scholars consider the foundations of indigenizing curriculum and education in general, particularly the value of sharing. We explore its potential as the foundation of a broad framework for indigenizing curriculum in a way that scales from one community’s perspective to multiple in a way that is respectful, and accounts for the significant time, energy, and human resource commitment involved in these practices.