1. Canadian Twelve-year-old Students Inquire into Indigenous and Heritage Languages Elizabeth Munroe Associate Professor Lisa Lunney Borden Associate Professor

2. Learning Outcomes Learn about the childhood of Indigenous people in one part of Canada. Consider the threat to language and culture among specific groups of people in Canada. Understand the possibility for deep learning of students and teachers through an inquiry process in school. Consider the inquiry process as a pathway to increased inter-cultural understanding among students and heightened potential for the survival and sustainability of cultural groups.

3. Today’s Presentation Setting the scene –Geographically –Historically –Politically Grade 6 Rankin School Inquiry into Language – student voices, teacher voice Discussion

5. Nova Scotia Population- 1 million Size - larger than Denmark Economy - fishing, ship-building, declining population of young people, except for First Nations

6. First Nations people - 4% of Canadian population - fastest growing population - large percentage of the population is school-age or younger

7. History of Mi’kmaw People 11,000 year history in Nova Scotia 400 years of colonization Consolidation (reserves) Residential schools (“Take the Indian out of the child”)

8. Political Framework First Nations education - federal All other peoples’ education - provincial School graduation success rate (nationally) 60% indigenous students do not complete high school 16% of all other Canadian students do not complete high school

9. Background Research Although Indigenous languages hold the key to an Indigenous worldview and philosophy (Battiste and Henderson (2009), indigenous languages, knowledges, and cultures are in grave danger (Paul-Gould, 2012; Sock, 2012) because of the dominant colonizing power of mainstream education systems, both historically and in current times.

10. Schools that respect and support a child's culture and language demonstrate significantly better outcomes for students (Greymorning, 2001; Haig-Brown, Hodgson-Smith, Regnier, & Archibald, 1997; McCarty, 2002; Paul-Gould, 2012; Sock, 2012; Tompkins & Murray Orr, 2011)

11. The recent Truth and Reconciliation process in Canada has resulted in an extensive report that places education as one pathway towards reconciliation, through an increased emphasis on Indigenous language and building inter- cultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect.

12. First Nations - Mi’kmaw 14,000 people in the province

13. Rankin School, Iona, NS Primary – 12 14 teachers;130 students

14. Eskasoni, NS – Mi’kmaw community

15. Eskasoni, Cape Breton, NS Largest Mi’kmaq community in NS (and in the world) (pop. 5000) 25 km; 30 minute drive to Rankin School Parents choice for FN students to attend Rankin School

16. Gaelic and Mi’kmaq Settlers from Scotland to NS 1773 Fewer than 500 Gaelic speakers in NS Approx. 2000 Mi’kmaq speakers in NS

17. Show Me Your Math Since 2007 Purpose to invite indigenous students to explore the mathematics that is evident in their own community and cultural practices Expand from individual student math projects to whole class inquiry into culturally-related math Professional Development day with interested teachers

18. Show Me Your Language Overview of Grade 6 Inquiry Teacher was new to this kind of project work, but the students were so engaged, she continued and expanded the time spent on it. Video – 6 minutes

19. Inquiry-based teaching and learning allows students to research topics that are personally meaningful, yet globally significant. This educational approach has been shown to increase student and teacher engagement, knowledge, skills and attitudes (Chiarotto, 2011).

20. Conclusions Studying local Indigenous and heritage languages seems to have enhanced the school experience of the children in our case study, helping them to thrive, giving hope for their positive future. Children built trust and a closer classroom community. One concrete marker of the success of this inquiry was the increase in school attendance by the Mi’kmaw children throughout the remainder of their school year.

21. Discussion Contact information: emunroe@stfx.ca lborden@stfx.ca