Abstract:
Australian children are growing up in a period of significant instability and sadness. Enduring a global pandemic and the ongoing impacts of climate change, together with a culture of disconnect demonstrated through the failed Voice referendum in October 2023, teachers face significant challenges engaging Australian children in meaningful, connected and hopeful learning.
Importantly the types of pedagogies required to address these challenges must open up spaces for reflexivity, agency, action, and plurality. This presentation explores an ongoing research project as one example of such an approach, employing design as a method and pedagogy for bringing together ways of knowing with Australian primary school children and their teachers. Drawing on an Indigenous Country relational approach, we present findings from our pilot study with primary school children who engaged with cultural stories, science and Country to design a digital story for action. We discuss the ways that Aboriginal and respectful non-Aboriginal teachers and students can work with digital design as pedagogy and Country as teacher (McKnight, 2017, Spillman & Wilson, 2022, Yunkaporta & Kirby, 2011), who drives the approaches required to interrogate and transform a more connected and hopeful future. We conclude with future directions including a digital design challenge framework to facilitate this pedagogy in Australian schools.
Importantly the types of pedagogies required to address these challenges must open up spaces for reflexivity, agency, action, and plurality. This presentation explores an ongoing research project as one example of such an approach, employing design as a method and pedagogy for bringing together ways of knowing with Australian primary school children and their teachers. Drawing on an Indigenous Country relational approach, we present findings from our pilot study with primary school children who engaged with cultural stories, science and Country to design a digital story for action. We discuss the ways that Aboriginal and respectful non-Aboriginal teachers and students can work with digital design as pedagogy and Country as teacher (McKnight, 2017, Spillman & Wilson, 2022, Yunkaporta & Kirby, 2011), who drives the approaches required to interrogate and transform a more connected and hopeful future. We conclude with future directions including a digital design challenge framework to facilitate this pedagogy in Australian schools.