“Totemic species” can be an effective lens for engaging students with Indigenous knowledge and biodiversity conservation
Open accessAbstract
We present the outcomes of a program designed to engage primary school students with both Indigenous knowledge and biodiversity conservation, through the lens of “Totemic” species. The program provided resources for genuine engagement with Traditional Owners, and for the coordinating teachers to dedicate time to curriculum development and delivery. The material was embedded within a cross‐school core curriculum topic (biology), presenting both Indigenous and Western knowledge in parallel. Students' understanding of ecology and conservation increased significantly post‐program, as did their cultural awareness and appreciation of traditional knowledge. Care for the totemic species was also shown to increase and enthusiasm for this approach to teaching science was expressed by students. The co‐benefits of this program include creating habitat for threatened species, improvements in the health and wellbeing of students through engagement with biodiversity and the potential for ecosystem services such as cooling of the school grounds. Effective ways of embedding cultural awareness and Indigenous knowledge into the Australian curriculum are urgently needed and it is our hope that this program provides evidence of effective ways of embedding these knowledges moving forward.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Indigenous knowledge keepers and elders play a prominent, vital and respected role within Indigenous communities to help pass down traditional beliefs, values, worldviews, language and spiritual ways of life.
“Indigenous knowledge keepers and elders play a prominent, vital and respected role within Indigenous communities to help pass down traditional beliefs, values, worldviews, language and spiritual ways of life in a genuine way.”
From A Systematic Review of Pedagogical Practices for Integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Science Teaching (2024) · cites this paper as Ward et al., 2023
Ward et al. (2023) found that working with traditional owners and Indigenous experts served as a knowledge base and guide for teachers in developing lesson content.
“The findings show that working with traditional owners and Indigenous experts served as a knowledge base and guide for teachers in developing their lesson content”
From A Systematic Review of Pedagogical Practices for Integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Science Teaching (2024) · cites this paper as Ward et al., 2023
Ward et al. (2023) found that working with traditional owners and Indigenous experts enhanced teachers' confidence in teaching Indigenous science knowledge in a culturally appropriate manner.
“enhanced teachers’ confidence in teaching Indigenous science knowledge in a culturally appropriate manner”
From A Systematic Review of Pedagogical Practices for Integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Science Teaching (2024) · cites this paper as Ward et al., 2023
Ward et al. (2023) found that working with traditional owners and Indigenous experts enhanced students' knowledge of traditional farm practices.
“enhanced students’ knowledge of traditional farm practices”
From A Systematic Review of Pedagogical Practices for Integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Science Teaching (2024) · cites this paper as Ward et al., 2023
Several authors reported that exploring other ways of knowing, establishing a classroom culture of respect, explicitly including traditional knowledge in science courses, working with Indigenous experts and leaders, incorporating Indigenous languages as key vocabulary words when teaching, using hands-on activities and storytelling can help teachers incorporate IKS into their science teaching.
“several authors have reported that exploring other ways of knowing, establishing a classroom culture of respect, explicitly including traditional knowledge in science courses, working with Indigenous experts and leaders, incorporating Indigenous languages as key vocabulary words when teaching, using hands-on activities and storytelling can help teachers incorporate IKS into their science teaching”
From A Systematic Review of Pedagogical Practices for Integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Science Teaching (2024) · cites this paper as Ward et al., 2023
Cites
Mills, J. G., Bissett, A., Gellie, N. J. C., Lowe, A. J., Selway, C. A., Thomas, T., Weinstein, P., Weyrich, L. S., & Breed, M. F. (2020) · Restoration Ecology · doi:10.1111/rec.13175 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Reflection-In-Action and Reflection-On-Action
Munby, H. (1989) · Current Issues in Education · doi:10.1353/eac.1989.a592219 · Cited by 85 · cited 2× · see citing works
“This program and evaluation relied in part on postteaching reflection or thinking on action (Munby, 1989).”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ogegbo, A. A., & Ramnarain, U. (2024) · African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education · doi:10.1080/18117295.2024.2374133 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“…Indigenous experts served as a knowledge base and guide for teachers in developing their lesson content, enhanced teachers ’ con fi dence in teaching Indigenous science knowledge in a culturally appropriate manner and enhanced students ’ knowledge of traditional farm practices (Ward et al., 2023).”
Influential
- Authors
- Ward, N. M., Garrard, G., Gregg, E. A., May, B., Wandin, D., Harrison, M., Pascoe, M., McConachie, F., Moggridge, B., Kusmanoff, A., & Bekessy, S. A.
- Affiliations
- RMIT University (AU)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Carlton North Primary School Australia
- Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation Melbourne Australia
- University of Canberra (AU)
- Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group RMIT University Melbourne Victoria Australia
- Corresponding author
- Bekessy, Sarah A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Conservation Science and Practice
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2023-03-06
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 4
- ISSN
- 2578-4854 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4323312835
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 4.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Conservation Science and Practice (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Threatened Species Recovery Hub
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Indigenous and Place-Based Education
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Animal and Plant Science Education
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental and sustainability education
- Keywords
- indigenous knowledge, biodiversity conservation education, elementary school students, Traditional Owners, curriculum development, science education, cultural awareness, threatened species habitat, student well-being, ecosystem services, Australian Curriculum
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
