Kulig Judith C, Duke Michelle, Solowoniuk Jason, Weaselfat Roy, Shade Cameron, Lamb Marilyn, Wojtowicz Bernadine
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
Rural Remote Health. 2010 Jan-Mar;10(1):1324. Epub 2010 Jan 19.
Research in the sciences is now beginning to acknowledge what many Aboriginal educators and students have experienced or witnessed in educational curricula, a general dismissal of Indigenous knowledge as being considered scientifically 'worthy'. This is the result of educational institutions', and the systems within which they are placed, failure to teach from broad cultural orientations. Aboriginal persons are under-represented in post-secondary education programs, with a similar disparity in the limited number of Aboriginal persons holding careers in health, science and engineering occupations.
The University of Lethbridge is attempting to increase the number of Aboriginal students who successfully complete programs in a variety of areas. To that end, the Support Program for Aboriginal Nursing Students (SPANS) commenced in Fall 2007 in order to increase the numbers of Aboriginal students who enter and complete the 4 year nursing program. At one time there were as few as 2-3 Aboriginal nursing students across the 4 years of the program. Since SPANS began there are now 34 students of Aboriginal background across all 4 years of the nursing program. This is noteworthy because statistically there are only 1200 Aboriginal Registered Nurses in Canada, a daunting statistic that is alarming low. One of the objectives of SPANS is to enhance the nursing faculty and clinical instructors' understanding of Aboriginal science so that it can be integrated into the current curriculum. With this aim, an Aboriginal Science Symposium was held in May 2009 to bring nursing faculty together with other University faculty and experts in Aboriginal science. The symposium attempted to highlight the links between programs in nursing and health sciences and the need for integration with Aboriginal science. The 3 specific symposium objectives were to: (1) generate an understanding of traditional scientific knowledge; (2) bridge Aboriginal and Western scientific thought, toward and; (3) understand ways of implementing and raising awareness of how Aboriginal knowledge and understanding of science can be applied to help inform and improve teaching in all educational science settings.
From keynote addresses, panel group discussions, and breakout sessions, participant responses to the symposium objectives coalesced into 4 themes: (1) Aboriginal ways of knowing: informing Western science curricula; (2) Elders and community, enhancing science education; (3) Aboriginal student experience in the science classroom; and (4) strategies and advice to meet the needs of the Aboriginal science student.
科学领域的研究如今开始承认许多原住民教育工作者和学生在教育课程中所经历或目睹的情况，即将原住民知识一概视为在科学上“无价值”而不予理会。这是教育机构及其所处体系未能从广泛的文化视角进行教学的结果。在高等教育项目中，原住民的代表性不足，在从事健康、科学和工程职业的原住民人数有限方面也存在类似差距。
莱斯布里奇大学正试图增加成功完成各个领域课程的原住民学生数量。为此，原住民护理学生支持项目（SPANS）于2007年秋季启动，以增加进入并完成四年制护理课程的原住民学生数量。该项目四年里曾一度仅有两三名原住民护理学生。自SPANS项目启动以来，现在护理专业四年课程中共有34名原住民背景的学生。这一点值得注意，因为据统计，加拿大仅有1200名原住民注册护士，这一令人震惊的数字低得可怕。SPANS的目标之一是增强护理教师和临床指导教师对原住民科学的理解，以便将其融入当前课程。出于这一目的，2009年5月举办了一次原住民科学研讨会，将护理教师与大学其他教师以及原住民科学专家汇聚一堂。该研讨会试图突出护理和健康科学课程之间的联系以及与原住民科学整合的必要性。研讨会的三个具体目标是：（1）增进对传统科学知识的理解；（2）弥合原住民和西方科学思维之间的差距；（3）了解如何实施以及提高对原住民科学知识和理解如何能够应用于为所有教育科学环境中的教学提供信息和改进教学的认识。
通过主题演讲、小组讨论和分组会议，参与者对研讨会目标的回应形成了四个主题：（1）原住民的认知方式：为西方科学课程提供信息；（2）长者与社区，加强科学教育；（3）原住民学生在科学课堂中的经历；（4）满足原住民理科学生需求的策略与建议。
