| Are
there such things as Indigenous learning styles?
The
first thing to say is that there is no gene, or set of genes,
which define culturally- or racially-based 'learning styles'.
Ways
of learning are derived from ways of life and how adults and
other people, including peers, in the immediate context 'teach'.
These ways of learning develop through a complex interaction
between life experiences, habits and formal instruction. Some
cultural differences may occur in this regard which you should
consider but they cannot be assumed. Culture is shaped by
a multitude of circumstances and influences.
Young
children are active learners from birth. They learn through
play and through interactions with others. They make sense
of the world through their first-hand experiences and through
interactions with members of their families and communities.
Meanings and understandings are shaped every day. It is within
these personally-experienced social contexts that young children's
understandings of their world develop and learning grows.
Some
ways of learning are therefore well embedded by the time young
children come to school. Others can be taught. In fact it
is one of the functions of formal education to teach ways
of learning that otherwise would not be acquired.
If
in a formal teaching situation you are not getting the reaction
you anticipate, thoughtful investigation is required.
Children
learn best when their diversity of experience in home and
community is recognised and built upon in other settings.
The diversity of family and cultural contexts means that children
bring different experiences to new learning situations.
One
generalisation to test is that Indigenous students may, like
many other students, respond well to collaborative learning.
Other unanticipated differences may emerge in differing contexts.
Ways
of learning are also closely linked with perceptual functions
- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling and the kinaesthetic
sense, awareness of your own body, its 'place in space' and
its relation to other animate and inanimate objects. These
are how we derive information about the world. If one or more
of these functions are impaired or, for that matter, particularly
acute, assumptions about what is conventional will not apply.
Conventionally, learning at school is heavily dependent on
being able to see and hear well. The comparatively high incidence
of hearing and other sensory impairment among some Indigenous
children mean that these are matters for sensitive attention,
with some potential modification of teaching practice and
additional support for students required.
In
its paper 'Effective Learning Issues for Indigenous Children
Aged 0-8 Years', presented to the July 2001 meeting of the
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and
Youth Affairs, the Taskforce on Indigenous Education pointed
out (p. 31) that:
 To
develop more effective learning, some commentators argue
that there needs to be a shift away from a view of individual
learners to a view of learning as 'participation in a community
of practice'. The emphasis then is not on how individual
children learn, but on why and how people learn through
their culture and how participation in culture shapes identity.
To this end, some schools and community groups have sought
to develop a greater sense of partnership and collaboration
between the school and its community. These schools have
generally recognised and valued the language and culture
of communities, involved the local community in educational
decision-making and sought to acknowledge and respond to
their richness and diversity by modifying school curricula
and classroom practices.
One way to develop more effective curricula is to ensure
that students have opportunities to consider the methods
and content of the school curriculum from the perspective
of their own cultural identity. Rather than aim for a curriculum
that avoids discussions of cultural identity, the goal should
be to facilitate the process by which students are permitted
to discover and explore their cultural connections. This
further work needs to be undertaken by exploring more inclusive
teaching styles and the impact of Indigenous cultures on
classroom interactions and processes, and at the same time
avoiding any consideration of 'Indigenous learning styles'.
Every child has their own learning style and the Taskforce
is of the view that these learning styles are not dependent
on whether the child is Indigenous or non-Indigenous.
And
what do Indigenous students themselves have to say? In 2003,
a forum was held at Lanyon High School in the Australian Capital
Territory with a number of Indigenous secondary students.
Read
what the students said … |
