ways to incorporate fnmi knowledge:
- Bringing in artifacts.
- Inviting local elders to speak to students.
- Passing on language acquisition from Blackfoot Classes.
- Invite an Elder into the classroom to share traditional names of places and stories of the land.
- Talking circles to for problem solving/conflict resolution or to discuss current events.
- Invite FNMI guest speakers to talk about current land, environment and social/political topics.
- Investigate the responsibility of the federal government for relations with Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and the special relationship between the Crown and Aboriginal peoples, especially as enshrined in treaties and land claims agreements.
- Compare Aboriginal styles of government, social structure and decision-making with Canadian structure (e.g. Six Nations, Great Law of Peace, Matriarchal structures in the Haudenosaunee; clan mothers and chiefs in the Iroquois Confederacy).
- In a class, experiment with different models of decisionmaking (e.g. parliamentary and consensus).
- Investigate the effects of resource extraction (uranium, hydroelectric projects, tar sands) on Aboriginal communities, health, traditional lands.
- Inquiry Project: Put students in small groups to investigate FNMI nations society. Have students present their group findings to the class. Individual students compare the society they studied in a group with one or more other societies from the presentations.
- Practice making a persuasive argument orally or practice explaining significance of an event or action orally.
- Have students explore a variety of resources discussing urban, rural and reserve life.
- Have student analyze and create maps that reflect a variety of types of information (population, land use, treaties, economic statistics, etc.).
- Investigate how and why Aboriginal peoples have traditionally altered their activities as the seasons changed.
- Investigate how the buffalo provided Aboriginal people with everything they needed to survive.
- Investigate how other animals were/are used by Aboriginal peoples for survival (e.g. dogs in the north, deer, seal, moose).
- Water quality is an important issue in many Aboriginal communities. When studying water refer to these communities and the work of people like Josephine Mandamin to improve water quality.
- Students research an item or a technology used by First Nations Peoples of Upper Canada before or during the early settlement period and compare the older version of the item or technology with the version used today (e.g. birch bark canoe and fibre glass canoe).
- Have students discuss the reasons for migration and the location of communities.
- Research projects about different FNMI nations in Alberta's and Canada's histories. Students can research the groups, write paragraphs about their food, shelters, clothing, transportation, and customs.
- Have students use this interactive website to discover how all parts of the buffalo were used: http://americanhistory.si.edu/buffalo/matching.html.