Indigenous Bilingual Education Place-based Education

Students have trouble finding meaning in decontextualized one-size-fits-all curriculum and instruction that does not relate to their cultures and homes. The best way to contextualize education is to relate what students are learning to their heritage, land and lives. While students need to learn the knowledge and skills codified in state standards, they also need to have some choice in what they read and what type of learning projects they can become engaged in. A 2006 report on the National Science Foundation’s Rural Systematic Initiative notes that “Place-based education strengthens communities ” and is “inherently interdisciplinary and project-based, it builds on local resources and expertise without great cost ” (Boyer, pp. 114-115). This idea of teaching students about their specific locality and its people and their cultures and languages is not new. Neither is the criticism of teaching that focuses on test preparation and memorization, which can lead to school dropouts who give “boredom ” as the leading cause of their leaving school. Back in 1928 the Meriam Report, an investigation of the U.S. Government’s Indian Office, noted that in some Indian schools children were forced to “maintain a pathetic degree of quietness ” (p. 332). In the 1933 edition of his How We Think John Dewey called on teachers to engage The best way to contextualize education is to relate what students are learning to their heritage, land and lives. their students in “constructive occupations” or “projects ” that engage students ’ interest, have intrinsic worth, awaken curiosity, and are carried out over an extended period of time (pp. 216-217). These projects should integrate as many of the basic subjects taught in schools as possible. More recently, University of Toronto researcher Jim Cummins (1992) identified culturally appropriate experiential and interactive teaching methods that build on students’ background knowledge and engage their interest. The active learning strategies that Cummins and others advocate would go far in getting students motivated to come to school, learn, and stay to graduate. The “project method ” was used successfully with Indian students in the

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