More than One Way of Knowing

In a Nutshell:

This lesson is about the observations traditional peoples have made of climate change. The students will compare the observations of traditional peoples with the observations of Western science.

Goal:

The goal of this lesson is to validate Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) through comparison and the identification of agreement with Western science.

Background Learning:

Teachers and students should be familiar with the basics of climate change as reviewed in:

• High School Backgrounder #1: Climate Change: What’s the Big Deal?
• High School Backgrounder #2: The Greenhouse Effect

Learning Outcomes:

Click on the icon for your territory to review the learning outcomes that are addressed by this lesson:

Introduction to Lesson Plan:

Some societies believe that Western science holds more validity than traditional knowledge. However today people in Nunavut and beyond its borders, are starting to give science and traditional knowledge – Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) as it is called in Nunavut – equal respect. Indeed, the equal consideration of both ways of knowing is entrenched in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, in all of the institutional frameworks of the Government of Nunavut, and in both Inuit and Nunavut agencies. It is very important that the teacher present both Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) and Western science as having validity, utility, and relevance. Inuit are local experts on their environment and possess both personal and intergenerational knowledge. Therefore, IQ can help all of us to better understand the northern environment. This lesson is applicable to all three territories as the wisdom from Elders across the north is incorporated.

Depending on the language level of your students, you may choose to do this as a class, in small groups, or as individuals. Before the lesson, download the Teacher Handout, download and make copies of the student handout, and collect the materials needed.

This lesson drew on a number of sources listed below. You may want to read selectively from them before using this lesson plan.

Berkes, Fikret. 1993. Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Perspective. In Inglis, J.T. (ed). Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Concepts and Cases. Ottawa: International Program on Traditional Ecological Knowledge and International Development Research Centre.

Krupnik, I. and Jolly, D. 2002. The Earth is Faster Now: Indigenous Observations of Arctic Environmental Change, Arctic Studies Centre, Smithsonian Institute.

Thorpe, N., Eyegetok, S., Hakongak, N. and Kitikmeot Elders. 2001. Thunder on the Tundra: Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit of the Bathurst caribou. Vancouver: Generation Printing.

Some of the information used in this lesson was borrowed from work the author did entitled: Teacher on the Tundra: A Teachers’ Guide to Thunder on the Tundra. This teachers’ guide deals in part with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit of the effect of climate change on the Bathurst caribou. The guide was written by Mindy Willett for World Wildlife Fund Canada and is available by writing the Department of Education in Nunavut and requesting a copy.

Activity:

1. If your students have no prior knowledge of climate change, have them read high school backgrounders #1 and 2, or work through them together. If students do have prior knowledge of climate change, have a class discussion to draw out your students’ knowledge of the issues and determine the sources of their knowledge. What have they noticed personally? Have they heard their Elders or parents talking about any changes? What have they heard on the news or in school?
2. Once you have established the basics of climate change, discuss with your students whether they know more about climate change from the western perspective (from science class) or from their Elders. Inform them that in this lesson they will be looking at both ways of knowing and that both are valid and important in understanding climate change.
3. Discuss the similarities and differences between traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge. Ask your students if they know the terms “Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)” or simply “Traditional Knowledge (TK)” and “Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ)”. Although distinct, the terms TEK, TK, and IQ are often used interchangeably.
   
   TEK/ TK can be defined as “… a cumulative body of knowledge and beliefs, handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings (including humans) with one another and with their environment (Berkes 1993:3).”
   
   While IQ is similar it is generally used more in Nunavut and refers only to Inuit. The term IQ can be defined as ‘what has always been known’ or ‘what Inuit must know’. “IQ includes a finely tuned awareness of the ever-changing relationships between the land, the weather, wildlife and the spiritual world (Thorpe, et al. 2001:4).”
   
   Scientific knowledge is defined as “Knowledge accumulated by systematic study and organized by general principles.” Example: “mathematics is the basis for much scientific knowledge.” (realdictionary.com).
4. Depending on whether you are doing the exercise as a full class, in small groups, or individually, hand out the appropriate number of scissors, glue sticks, and student copies of the chart titled “Traditional and Western Observations and Evidence of Climate Change.”
5. Inform your students that their goal is to find a match between a traditional observation and a similar observation of western science. On the chart, for each traditional observation, there is a similar observation of western science. Their student copy has been mixed up but if they cut along the lines of the boxes under “Traditional Observations” and “Western Science Observations”, they can glue it back together (on a new sheet of paper) in the correct matching order. The Western science observations have been shaded so that they can be easily discerned.
6. Using the teacher answer copy, you may decide to pause and discuss the observations as the students find the matches. How do they feel about the changes? What are the differences and similarities between the observations?
7. After completing the chart discuss with your students the idea that although TEK/TK and IQ information is obtained through observation and years of generational knowledge and Western scientific knowledge is obtained through systematic research, they support each other. Climate change is happening and this can be clearly demonstrated by more than one way of knowing.
8. Put the following quote on the board and have your students write a reflection on how the unpredictability of the climate may affect the relationship between Elders and youth in a particular culture. Ask the students to personalize their reflection in terms of what they learn from their Elders and how they feel about the knowledge their Elders share or don’t share with them. How would they feel if they were Billy Patkotak?
   
   Quote: “The rules for interpreting ice changed. Before that I could tell younger whalers what they were seeing and what to expect. After the rules changed, I tried, but I was often wrong. Pretty soon younger whalers stopped listening to me. I tell you, that made me very sad (Billy Blair Patkotak, Wainright, Alaska, June 2000)”.
9. Have the students share their responses and discuss how the effects of climate change can affect culture as well the climate.

Handouts:

Click on the icon for the complete set of handouts that support this lesson:

Teacher Handout: Traditional and Western Observations and Evidence of Climate Change (Answer Key)
Student Handout: Traditional and Western Observations and Evidence of Climate Change

Student Web-Exchange:

Students could interview their Elders about the different changes they have noticed in the weather and climate in their particular community and post the results on the student exchange portion of the website. An option is to compare what Elders say with what scientists have written about climate change. Click on the icon for information on how to post material.

Evaluation:

Students may be evaluated on the completion of the matching activity as well as the writing assignment. Criteria for the matching activity may include reading comprehension, group cooperation, contribution to the discussion, etc.

Enrichment Ideas:

Social Studies or English Language Arts:

Research and Document: Students could interview community members and document what they have observed about climate change on a chart. Students could take it further and think about how each observation of climate change can affect people. For example, when the ice is not as thick it is unsafe for people to travel. Students could read High School Backgrounder #11: Northern Community Impacts and Adaptations to get them started on how climate change is affecting people.

Invite a scientist and elder: Invite a scientist and an elder to your classroom (maybe on different days) to talk about climate change. Discuss the similarity and differences in their perspectives and approach.

Language Extension:

Climate Change Adjective Pass: To help with vocabulary for future lessons on climate change, lead students on an “Adjective Pass.” This activity should take place after the lesson.

1. For this activity you could bring one or two photos into the classroom that depict effects of climate change (erosion of the community of Sachs Harbour, sea ice, melting snow, etc). If you can’t get photos, then do the activity without them.
2. Pass one photo around the class. Have one student begin by saying one adjective to describe the effects of climate change (warmer weather, early spring, late fall, less multi-year ice, new birds, etc).
3. The next student uses a different adjective description and so on around the circle until the students can’t think of any new descriptions of the effects of climate change.
4. Choose a recorder from the class and write the words on a big chart of paper to which the students can refer.
5. To add a memory challenge to the “Adjective Pass” you could require each student to repeat the adjectives the other students used before they say their own. For example, the fourth student would have to say; “The effect of climate change could be that there is warmer weather, earlier migration, less ice, it’s harder to hunt for seals, and …(they add their own).”
6. Keep the list visible for future use.

About the Author:

My name is Mindy Willett. I live in Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories. I am a teacher at heart although I am no longer in the classroom. I first came north to Rankin Inlet, Nunavut in 1987 and most recently taught in Kugluktuk, Nunavut from 1996 to 2000. I stopped being a classroom teacher when I had my son Jack. In 2002, I had a baby girl named Rae and these two children are now my teachers. To remain home as much as possible, I have started my own home-based business writing educational materials.

I loved teaching in Kugluktuk and learned a great deal. One of my biggest, “Ah ha!” moments happened during the summer after my first year of teaching in Kugluktuk. I was fortunate enough to be a teacher at a science and culture camp for 10 days at Walker Bay (on the Kent Peninsula on the mainland sound of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut). Three of the participants at camp had been in my class for the previous year. In those 10 days I saw more excitement for learning from Stacey, Derek, and Bruce than I had in the entire year in my classroom. I realized that I had bored them in the classroom. It took a lot of soul searching to realize that I had to change my teaching methods to more adequately reflect the learning styles of the students in my classroom, to spend more time on the land and less in the classroom, to have more kinesthetic type learning opportunities and less “chalk talk.” Thank you to Stacey, Derek, and Bruce for making me a better teacher. Hopefully the lesson described follows some of the lessons I learned. Enjoy!