Indigenous Australian ways of learning

Australian Indigenous ways of learning

This resource is about Indigenous Australian ways of knowing, being, and doing as applied to education and learning.

## Ways of learning

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There are eight ways of learning based on "Yarning up Aboriginal pedagogies: A dialogue about eight Aboriginal ways of learning" (Yungaporta & Kirby, 2011).

This model is used within education in Australia to guide and inform "indigenisation of the curriculum".

Eight Indigenous ways of learning

### Tell a story

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Story sharing. Approaching learning through narrative. We connect through the stories we share. Personal narratives (stories) are central.

### Make a plan

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Learning maps. Explicitly mapping/visualising processes. We picture our pathways of knowledge. Images or visuals are used to map out processes for learners to follow.

### Think and do

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Non-verbal. Applying intra-personal and kinaesthetic skills to thinking and learning. We see, think, act, make and share without words. Kinaesthetic, hands-on, non-verbal learning is characteristic.

### Draw it

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Symbols and images. Using images and metaphors to understand concepts and content. We keep and share knowledge with art and objects. Symbol, image and metaphor are central to pedagogy.

### Take it outside

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Land links. Place-based learning, linking content to local land and place. We work with lessons from land and nature. Ecological and place-based, drawn from the living landscape within a framework of profound ancestral and personal relationships with place.

### Try a new way

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Non-linear. Producing innovations and understanding by thinking laterally or combining systems. We put different ideas together and create new knowledge. Non-linear ways of learning are complementary, not oppositional.

### Watch first, then do

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Deconstruct/reconstruct. Modelling and scaffolding, working from wholes to parts. We work from wholes to parts, watching and then doing. Begin with the whole structure, rather than a series of sequenced steps. Holistic, global, scaffolded and independent learning orientations of students.

### Share it with others

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Community links. Centring local viewpoints, applying learning for community benefit. We bring new knowledge home to help our mob. Connections to real-life purposes, contexts, communities, and teams.

Arnhem Land artist Glen Namundja working on a piece of art.

## References

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Yunkaporta, T. (2009). Aboriginal pedagogies at the cultural interface (Professional doctorate (Research) thesis, James Cook University).

Yunkaporta, T., & Kirby, M. (2011). Yarning up Aboriginal pedagogies: A dialogue about eight Aboriginal ways of learning. In N. Purdie, G. Milgate, & H. Bell. (Eds.) Two way teaching and learning: Toward culturally reflective and relevant education (pp. 205-213). ACER Press.

## External links

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* 8 Aboriginal ways of learning: Aboriginal pedagogy (8ways.online)
* 8 Aboriginal ways of learning: Factsheet (painaustralia.org.au)