Rethinking Environmental Science Education from Indigenous Knowledge Perspectives: An Experience with a Dene First Nation Community

Overview & Synopsis

This auto-ethnographic article explores how land-based education might challenge Western environmental science education (ESE) in an Indigenous community. This learning experience was developed from two perspectives: first, land-based educational stories from Dene First Nation community Elders, knowledge holders, teachers, and students; and second, the author's critical self-reflections focusing on how land-based education could offer unlearning, rethinking, relearning, and reclaiming ESE. This auto-ethnography provides particular insights into who we are as environmental educators, the challenges in Western ESE, why land-based education matters, why and how a significant move should be made from Western ESE to land-based ESE, and how land-based education offers a bridge between Western and Indigenous education.