Our Spirits Soar 

There are three calls to action on which my capstone project addresses.  The first call to action is to “develop culturally appropriate early childhood education programs for Aboriginal families” (TRC, 2015, p. 2).  The second is “Sharing information and best practices on teaching curriculum related to residential schools and Aboriginal history” (TRC, 2015, p. 7).  Lastly, the third call to action is  “Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect” (TRC, 2015, p. 7).

 

This website is my response to the call to action to share information and best practices on teaching young children about Aboriginal history and culture.

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Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-cultural theory situates the child in a social and cultural context in which development takes places (Edwards, 2003; Fleer, 2002; Sanchez, 1999). Socio-cultural theory acknowledges the importance of interactions and relationships, positioning the child’s family context and culture as a central part of a child’s education and development (Ntuli, Nyarambi, & Traore, 2014; Sanchez, 1999).

 

When viewing socio-cultural theory from an Aboriginal pedagogical perspective, we find that socio-cultural theory shares the same beliefs about the connectedness of children to their families and culture, and how learning and development takes place within this connectedness and relationships with others.  It is through this understanding of how socio-cultural contexts affect child development and learning that I approach my project on incorporating Aboriginal pedagogy into early childhood classrooms and curriculum.