Qikiqtani Truth Commission materials added to Nunavut curriculum
Goal to educate children on historical events impacting Inuit of the Qikiqtani region: GN
The Government of Nunavut and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association are partnering to develop a made-in-Nunavut school curriculum plan that incorporates materials from the Qikiqtani Truth Commission reports, the Education Department announced earlier this month. (File photo by Kahlan Miron)
Historical material from the Qikiqtani Truth Commission reports will be incorporated into Nunavut schools’ curriculum through a partnership between the Government of Nunavut and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, an Education Department spokesperson says.
A team of educators and staff from both QIA and the Education Department will produce teaching guides, theme kits and student journals that educate children on historical events and decisions impacting Inuit of the Qikiqtani region, Education spokesperson Matthew Illaszewicz said in a news release.
The materials will be age-appropriate, span all grade levels and support implementation of the made-in-Nunavut curriculum development plan, he added.
“Our goal is to ensure Inuit culture, language and history are foundational in the educational programming for children from grades 1 through 12 in the Qikiqtani region,” Education Minister Pamela Gross said in a statement.
The plan also follows recommendations from the Qikiqtani Truth Commission’s final report in 2014, she said.
The content developed through the multi-year project will primarily be used to support and enrich social studies, Inuktut and English languages and health and wellness, Illaszewicz said.
It follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between QIA and the Department of Education, designed to find common goals of culturally reflective education with an emphasis on Inuit language learning.
The QTC team did first rate work that will benefit Inuit for generations to come. An all too rare feat for an Inuit led project.
How about translating Euclid’s Elements into Inuktitut and using it to teach Geometry in Inuktitut?
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It contains only a few different word that are used over and over again.
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point
line
straight line
parallel lines
circle
angle
intersection
square
rectangle
paralelogram
interior
exterior
draw
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That’s certainly most, and probably all, of the words. The book is more than 2500 years old, so no issues with copyright. It deals with two-dimentional geometry. That is way, way simpler than building an igloo, which is an exercise in three-dimensional geometry. Translate those words/ideas and you can have a math course in Inuktitut.
I have. After I translated it for the company I work for, I rendered the 5 axioms of Euclid. Surprisingly, without the foreign sources of terminology, the Inuktitut rendering came out so very fine and comprehensible. I have the paper somewhere… it’s from years ago now.
taqsaak marruuk sivituniliik kasuqtigaksauvuuk tukiliaqtumut titikutaangnirmut
given two points (ie, dots or terminals), it is possible to describe a straight line, joining them
This great! Love the collaboration and initiative from QIA and GN, we need more initiatives like this!
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Now to get Residential schools and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) into the Nunavut Curriculum and taught before grade 8. Pretty sure they already have the resources, just need to have the teachers use the material available.
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Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS) was a great idea to help Nunavut students transition into Southern living, taking college courses, learn about the NLCA and preparing for university but most, if not all Universities offer first year transition/preparation year for Indigenous students. I have consistently heard how many students would have to loved to learn that in Nunavut instead of going to NS, getting traumatized from dorm mates and wanting to quit because of the lack of support.
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The intent of Nunavut agreement in my interpretation is that Inuit wanted to have more say to shape the communities and Territory, to be able to control resources and run the government as they see fit along side anyone who wants to live in Nunavut for whatever reason. So, it only makes sense to guide the next generations, acknowledge the trails and tribulations of Indigenous people, give them the skills and confidence to join the work force. We have the opportunity to maximize our resources, having quality education and encouraging life long learning is one way to help give people the confidence to be able to thrive and contribute to a better tomorrow for Nunavut.
What Nunavut curricula is there? Mostly Alberta, with some substitute giving out word searches to cover Inuktut classes.