Inuit Elder Policy Guidance for System-wide Educational Change in Nunavut, 2003-2013

Elders have been educators and experts in the Arctic for as long as people have inhabited the region. The involvement of Elders in schools and school systems has a relatively shorter history, but is more significant than has been documented to date. Elder instruction, to teach language and/or to facilitate cultural content or “culture class” began as early as the 1970s in some Nunavut communities. By the year 2000 four Inuit Elder Advisors were working full-time for the Nunavut Department of Education (NDE) developing educational philosophy and other materials for schools, in collaboration with a pan-territorial Elders Advisory Committee (EAC), classroom teachers and curriculum staff. We argue that the active role of Elders at the territorial level of school system oversight was critical to achieving Nunavut’s aspirations for educational policy change in the years between 2000 and 2013. The article describes how this work was conducted in Nunavut, analyzes some of the outcomes and materials developed, and highlights the opportunities and complexities of working with Elders and Elder knowledge within contemporary institutions, such as school systems

Situating Nunavut Education with Indigenous Education in Canada

Recognizing that educational change in Nunavut has not been extensively documented, this article provides an entry point for considering how Nunavut can be better understood and situated with scholarship on Indigenous education in Canada. Comparing the history of education in Nunavut with key turning points in First Nations education, the article illustrates important distinctions in understanding the Arctic context. Examination of more current issues illustrates the interesting perspective offered from Nunavut – Canada’s only jurisdiction where the entire public education system is intended to be responsive to the Indigenous (Inuit) majority. Finally, four areas of common struggle are proposed for further consideration

A Role for the Somatosensory System in Motor Learning by Observing

An influential idea in neuroscience is that action observation activates an observer’s sensory-motor system. This idea has recently been extended to motor learning; observing another individual undergoing motor learning can promote sensory-motor plasticity as well as behavioural changes in both the motor and somatosensory domains. While previous research has suggested a role for the motor system in motor learning by observing, this thesis presents a series of experiments testing the hypothesis that the somatosensory system is also involved in motor learning by observing. The experiments included in this thesis used force field (FF) adaptation as a model of motor learning, a task in which subjects adapt their reaches to a robot-imposed FF. Subjects observed a video showing another individual adapting his or her reaches to a FF, and motor learning by observing was assessed behaviourally following observation. First, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess changes in resting-state functional connectivity (FC) associated with motor learning by observing. We identified a functional network consisting of visual area V5/MT, cerebellum, primary motor cortex (M1), and primary somatosensory cortex (S1) in which post- observation FC changes were correlated with subsequent behavioural measures of motor learning achieved through observation. We then investigated if pre-observation measures of brain function or structure could predict subsequent motor learning by observing. We found that individual differences in pre-observation resting-state FC predicted observation-related gains in motor learning. Subjects who exhibited greater FC between bilateral S1, M1, dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), and left superior parietal lobule (SPL) prior to observation achieved greater motor learning by observing on the following day. In a subsequent experiment, we tested the involvement of the somatosensory system in motor learning by observing using median nerve stimulation and electroencephalogra- phy (EEG). In experiment 1, we showed that interfering with somatosensory cortical processing throughout observation (by delivering median nerve stimulation) can disrupt motor learning by observing. In a follow-up experiment, we assessed pre- to post- observation changes in S1 excitability by acquiring somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) using EEG. We showed that SEP amplitudes increased after observing motor learning. Post-observtion SEP increases were correlated with subsequent behavioural measures of motor learning achieved through observation. In a final experiment, we tested if improving subjects’ somatosensory function would enhance subsequent motor learning by observing. Subjects underwent perceptual training to improve their proprioceptive acuity prior to observation. We found that improving proprioceptive acuity prior to observation enhanced the extent to which subjects benefitted from observing motor learning (compared to subjects who had not undergone perceptual training). We further found that post-training increases in proprioceptive acuity were correlated with subsequent observation-related gains in motor performance. Collectively, these studies suggest that motor learning by observing is supported by a fronto-parieto-occipital network in which the somatosensory system is an active element. We have shown that observing motor learning changes somatosensory activity in a behaviourally-relevant manner. Observing motor learning resulted in S1 plasticity that corresponded to the extent of learning achieved through observation. Moreover, manipulating somatosensory activity influenced motor learning by observing. Interfering with somatosensory processing throughout observation disrupted motor learning by observing whereas improving somatosensory function prior to observation enhanced motor learning by observing. These experiments therefore suggest that the somatosensory system is indeed involved in motor learning by observing

Changes in visual and sensory-motor resting-state functional connectivity support motor learning by observing.

Motor learning occurs not only through direct first-hand experience but also through observation (Mattar AA, Gribble PL. Neuron 46: 153-160, 2005). When observing the actions of others, we activate many of the same brain regions involved in performing those actions ourselves (Malfait N, Valyear KF, Culham JC, Anton JL, Brown LE, Gribble PL. J Cogn Neurosci 22: 1493-1503, 2010). Links between neural systems for vision and action have been reported in neurophysiological (Strafella AP, Paus T. Neuroreport 11: 2289-2292, 2000; Watkins KE, Strafella AP, Paus T. Neuropsychologia 41: 989-994, 2003), brain imaging (Buccino G, Binkofski F, Fink GR, Fadiga L, Fogassi L, Gallese V, Seitz RJ, Zilles K, Rizzolatti G, Freund HJ. Eur J Neurosci 13: 400-404, 2001; Iacoboni M, Woods RP, Brass M, Bekkering H, Mazziotta JC, Rizzolatti G. Science 286: 2526-2528, 1999), and eye tracking (Flanagan JR, Johansson RS. Nature 424: 769-771, 2003) studies. Here we used a force field learning paradigm coupled with resting-state fMRI to investigate the brain areas involved in motor learning by observing. We examined changes in resting-state functional connectivity (FC) after an observational learning task and found a network consisting of V5/MT, cerebellum, and primary motor and somatosensory cortices in which changes in FC were correlated with the amount of motor learning achieved through observation, as assessed behaviorally after resting-state fMRI scans. The observed FC changes in this network are not due to visual attention to motion or observation of movement errors but rather are specifically linked to motor learning. These results support the idea that brain networks linking action observation and motor control also facilitate motor learning

History Education in the Anthropocene

As much as history education is supposed to be about the past, it is oriented towards the future. History teachers are guided by a variety of purposes, such as cultural inheritance, critical and disciplinary thinking, identity formation and personal development, or activism and social change. Each of these purposes is imbued with particular notions of memory, citizenship and other values relevant to preparing young people for the future. While it may not always be explicit, a prevailing assumption in history education, as with Canadian curriculum, generally speaking, is that the future is a place and time to which we should look forward, as it will improve upon the past. But as we are coming to know, that may not be a responsible or accurate frame to pass on to the next generation. What theoretical and practical supports can help history educators renew their teaching in light of the Anthropocene, and particularly the climate crisis? In seeking to attune history education to a relational, ecological and ethical future orientation, we turned to the fields of Indigenous studies, environmental history and climate change education. We suggest some new, and even radical, directions we might look as a community of history educators. In doing so, we hope to nurture solidarity in navigating uncertainty together. With a set of common questions, assumptions and goals to guide us, we may find ways of teaching and learning that respond more meaningfully to the precarity of our times

Listening for More (Hi)Stories from the Arctic’s Dispersed and Diverse Educational Past

RésuméAlors que les marques profondes laissées par le système d’écoles résiduelles du Nord canadien refont surface, il est important de poursuivre l’étude des politiques en matière d’éducation en parallèle avec les expériences vécues par les élèves dans des lieux et des contextes d’instruction variés. Dans le cas des Inuits, cette recherche fut incomplète. L’auteure avance qu’il faut approfondir les études sur l’implication du gouvernement fédéral dans les premiers systèmes d’éducation dans les Territoires. Ces travaux devraient prendre en compte les disparités locales et régionales ainsi que les expériences des élèves. En mettant l’accent sur les contradictions et les différents impacts causés par l’éducation dans ces communautés dans le passé, et notamment sur les enseignants sans expérience de la vie nordique, cela permettrait de trouver des manières pour décoloniser l’éducation de nos jours.   AbstractAs the widespread and deep impressions left on the Canadian North by the residential school system come to light, it is also important to continue examining educational policies alongside the experiences of students throughout a range of schooling sites and forms. Such research on Inuit schooling has been insufficient. I argue that more detailed educational histories of the federal and early territorial school systems should feature local and regional variability in implementation of policy and in student experience. Illuminating the inconsistent and multifaceted ways education affected communities in the past, particularly for teachers new to the North, serves to illustrate the ways education in the present necessitates decolonizing

Functional Plasticity in Somatosensory Cortex Supports Motor Learning by Observing.

An influential idea in neuroscience is that the sensory-motor system is activated when observing the actions of others [1, 2]. This idea has recently been extended to motor learning, in which observation results in sensory-motor plasticity and behavioral changes in both motor and somatosensory domains [3-9]. However, it is unclear how the brain maps visual information onto motor circuits for learning. Here we test the idea that the somatosensory system, and specifically primary somatosensory cortex (S1), plays a role in motor learning by observing. In experiment 1, we applied stimulation to the median nerve to occupy the somatosensory system with unrelated inputs while participants observed a tutor learning to reach in a force field. Stimulation disrupted motor learning by observing in a limb-specific manner. Stimulation delivered to the right arm (the same arm used by the tutor) disrupted learning, whereas left arm stimulation did not. This is consistent with the idea that a somatosensory representation of the observed effector must be available during observation for learning to occur. In experiment 2, we assessed S1 cortical processing before and after observation by measuring somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) associated with median nerve stimulation. SEP amplitudes increased only for participants who observed learning. Moreover, SEPs increased more for participants who exhibited greater motor learning following observation. Taken together, these findings support the idea that motor learning by observing relies on functional plasticity in S1. We propose that visual signals about the movements of others are mapped onto motor circuits for learning via the somatosensory system

The human motor system alters its reaching movement plan for task-irrelevant, positional forces.

The minimum intervention principle and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis state that our nervous system only responds to force perturbations and sensorimotor noise if they affect task success. This idea has been tested in muscle and joint coordinate frames and more recently using workspace redundancy (e.g., reaching to large targets). However, reaching studies typically involve spatial and or temporal constraints. Constrained reaches represent a small proportion of movements we perform daily and may limit the emergence of natural behavior. Using more relaxed constraints, we conducted two reaching experiments to test the hypothesis that humans respond to task-relevant forces and ignore task-irrelevant forces. We found that participants responded to both task-relevant and -irrelevant forces. Interestingly, participants experiencing a task-irrelevant force, which simply pushed them into a different area of a large target and had no bearing on task success, changed their movement trajectory prior to being perturbed. These movement trajectory changes did not counteract the task-irrelevant perturbations, as shown in previous research, but rather were made into new areas of the workspace. A possible explanation for this behavior change is that participants were engaging in active exploration. Our data have implications for current models and theories on the control of biological motion