Quills Subject Area: Biology
A Spirited Epistemology
Through discussion with the teacher, students discover that while Western scientists categorize elements of an ecosystem as either biotic or abiotic local Indigenous community members view all elements in the natural world as spirited and, therefore, biotic and alive.
- Bundle: Tools
Indigenous Land-Based Knowledge
Through discussion and plant identification activity, students learn about Indigenous Land-Based Knowledge. Students also examine a case study community members monitor, understand, and raise awareness about how climate change is impacting the whitefish population.
- Bundle: Food
Taking Responsibility to Reduce the Effects of Climate Change
Students learn to distinguish between the natural vs. human-caused greenhouse effect and discuss how colonization disrupted relationships characterized by reciprocity with the natural world and in so doing has contributed to the greenhouse effect.
- Bundle: Food
Creation Stories and Language
Students listen to the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee creation stories and reflect on how these stories have shaped Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee culture. Students learn about how Indigenous ways of knowing and being are contained in Indigenous languages and the impact of colonization on language loss.
- Bundle: Indigenous Knowledge
Ohèn:ton Karihwatéhkwen (The Words that Come Before All Else)
Students learn the Ohèn:ton Karihwatéhkwen and reflect on how it positions humans in a rich, interdependent web of relationships with elements in the natural world. As an extension students journal in an outdoor sit spot about what they are grateful for in nature.
- Bundle: Indigenous Knowledge
Culminating Activity: Entering into Relationship with our Plant Relatives
Taking inspiration from Ra’nikonhrí:io Lazare and Katsenhaién:ton Lazare, students will create their own videos that capture our relationships with a specific plant. Duration: Over multiple work periods
- Bundle: Gifts of the Earth
Living in Reciprocity with All Our Relations
Students explore the meaning of All Our Relations and interdependence by creating a community web that demonstrates these important concepts. Students will also explore how many of the things they depend on in their everyday lives come from the natural world.
- Bundle: Gifts of the Earth
Biodiversity and Invasive Species: A Garlic Mustard Case Study
Students will explore the impact of invasive species on biodiversity specifically by looking at garlic mustard. Students will draw a scientific drawing of the plant, play a game to understand how it moves through ecosystems, discover plans on how to eradicate it, and contribute to citizen science.
- Bundle: Gifts of the Earth