Accessible Resources (to be translated)

Adam Delaney SketchingFinding ways to help all peoples, including youth, analyze phenomena about how past and present cultures interact with the environment is imperative. The Mokakioyis/Meyopimâtisiwin project (also known in English as "Dwelling in Wisdom" and in French as "Au coeur de la sagesse") is an ethnoecological inquiry that seeks to digitally preserve traditional Aboriginal knowledge in an interactive online environment. It is through this interactive web site that visitors will gain information and insight so that they might understand and interpret patterns, linkages, and trends in ethnoecology and learn how to act intelligently in the future.

Students, Aboriginal elders, cultural and spiritual advisors, eminent scholars, teachers, new media artists, and educational mentors collaborated to conduct this ethnoecological study. Together we are digitally preserving traditional knowledge online. This site contains photographs, video and sound recordings, maps, and text-based information resources.


Using this Website

What can we learn from the elders’ traditional relationship with the land and the ecosystems that may inform current environmental issues and help us to build a healthy interrelated future?

To explore this question, ten sites were visited and explored by the partners and participants of this project. These sites can be visited in an interactive Flash environment, including digitized audio and video stories, by returning to the home page and selecting either the canoe (Meyopimâtisiwin) or the wagon wheel (Mokakioyis). In each of these environments, a local Elder introduces you to the location after which you can explore various aspects set within that locale. For those unable to access Flash, each of the ten sites has been described in XHTML format and can be accessed via the Land, Learning, Wisdom, and/or Issues sections represented on this page.

This site is presented in four languages: English, French, Cree, and Blackfoot. The Cree, or Meyopimâtisiwin inquiry, travels to the Moberly Lake area in northern British Columbia. Blackfoot resources are available on the Mokakioyis side which includes some traditional sites from southern Alberta.

In addition, in partnership with Libraries and Cultural Resources at the University of Calgary, a collection of Aboriginal resources, titled Galileo Educational Network – Aboriginal Resources, has been compiled by Galileo as part of two key Canadian Culture Online (CCO) projects: Stories and Spaces: Exploring Kainai Plants and Culture (Nitsitapiisinni) and Dwelling in Wisdom/Au couer de la sagesse (Mokakioyis/Meyopimâtisiwin).


Land

Ethnoecology is the study of indigenous peoples’ knowledge and management of the cultural, ecological, and economic components of natural ecosystems. Ten locations were studied as part of this ecological study. Follow the North Trail to Moberly Lake, British Columbia or take the South Trail to Alberta and visit the Blackfoot starting at Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park.

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Learning

This web site provides information and insight so that learners of any age might understand and interpret patterns, linkages, and trends in ethnoecology. Throughout this site you will find valuable resources for K-12 and post-secondary teacher education programs. Detailed teacher resources designed specifically for the Grade 5 Alberta curriculum are available online at http://www.iostudent.com/2521. In addition, this project can be modified to meet curriculum outcomes in any province and for any grades K through 12.

The Meyopimâtisiwin learning page follows a multi-grade classroom from Moberly Lake Elementary in Moberly Lake, British Columbia.

The Mokakioyis learning section highlights student and teacher work from Tatsikiisaapo'p Middle School and Kainai High School in Stand Off, Alberta.

Are you interested in learning more about teacher planning, resources, assessment, and curricular connections similar to those created for Mokakioyis/Meyopimâtisiwin? Then visit Intelligence Online (IO), a fully mentored online professional learning environment founded by the Galileo Educational Network.

Or, are you interested in initiating a similar project within your community? Contact the Galileo Educational Network at galileo@ucalgary.ca for more information.

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Wisdom

Indigenous peoples have and continue to have strong relationships with the land and their ancestors in important ecological ways. It is urgent that oral traditional Aboriginal knowledge, the wisdom of our Elders, be preserved and shared. This project would not have been possible without the wisdom of our Blackfoot and Cree, Beaver, and Dene Elders.

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Issues

While working with the partners and experts to create this web site many issues arose. Elders and experts alike raised thought-provoking questions and provided insights that are available in audio, video, and some text formats for both the Mokakioyis and Meyopimâtisiwin inquiries.

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