Motivators of Educational Success: Perceptions of Grade 12 Aboriginal Students

The purpose of this paper is to identify motivators that support educational success, as perceived by Aboriginal high school students enrolled in two urban Saskatchewan schools. Twelve semi-structured individual interviews revealed that students were motivated by a hospitable school culture, relevant learning opportunities, and positive personal influences outside the realm of the school (e.g., family role models and Elder influence). Utilizing an Aboriginal worldview lens, student motivation stemmed from experiencing four quadrants of learning—awareness (physical), knowledge (mental), continuous improvement (emotional), and perseverance (spiritual). An implication is that educators need to incorporate features of Aboriginal pedagogy when teaching.Keywords: motivational learning, Aboriginal high school students, Aboriginal worldvie

Exploring the Concepts of Traditional Inuit Leadership and Effective School Leadership in Nunavut (Canada)

The purpose of this paper is to document how educators living in Nunavut communities describe traditional Inuit leadership and effective school leadership. The data for this qualitative study were 24 semi-structured interviews, involving 14 teachers, vice-principals, and principals from Nunavut. Findings revealed that traditional Inuit leadership was about promoting the personal leadership skills, interests, and/or abilities of each community member, and it often involved Elders who fostered the linguistic, social, cultural, and spiritual wellness of students and school staff. Participants depicted an effective school leader to be someone who promoted teamwork. Also, participants indicated that effective school leaders were community and people-focused. The findings of this study align the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) principles, which incorporate important features of the Inuit worldview

Depictions of success

The purpose of this paper is to describe how 12 high school Aboriginal students defined educational success and success in general. We focus on how success is traditionally described in education and spotlight alternate meaning of the term. The data for this qualitative study were 12 semi-structured individual interviews, where students depicted success as obtaining educational credentials and pursuing lifelong learning via spiritual maturity. The Canadian Council on Learning’s First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model is used as an analytical framework to further analyze these findings. One implication arising from the study is that, in not already in place, educational leaders need to create school policies and programs to promote tutelage opportunities, arts-based courses, and after-school clubs and activities

Education for Aboriginal learners

According to school principals, the purpose of this paper is to identify issues that negatively influence the educational experience of Aboriginal students and to offer real-life examples focused on addressing these challenges. This qualitative multi-case study encapsulates 13 semi-structured individual interviews conducted with five Saskatchewan principals and four Prince Edward Island principals. From the perspective of nine school principals, challenges were pedagogical and curricular issues, student transition and attendance, the legacy of residential schools and other parental issues, and financial and resource issues. Implications of the study pertain to professional development of teachers and hiring procedures of school districts

Spacing and amplitude of IR temperature anomalies and hydrate content of sediments from ODP Leg 304 sites (Table 1)

Large uncertainties about the energy resource potential and role in global climate change of gas hydrates result from uncertainty about how much hydrate is contained in marine sediments. During Leg 204 of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) to the accretionary complex of the Cascadia subduction zone, we sampled the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) from the seafloor to its base in contrasting geological settings defined by a 3D seismic survey. By integrating results from different methods, including several new techniques developed for Leg 204, we overcome the problem of spatial under-sampling inherent in robust methods traditionally used for estimating the hydrate content of cores and obtain a high-resolution, quantitative estimate of the total amount and spatial variability of gas hydrate in this structural system. We conclude that high gas hydrate content (30–40% of pore space or 20–26% of total volume) is restricted to the upper tens of meters below the seafloor near the summit of the structure, where vigorous fluid venting occurs. Elsewhere, the average gas hydrate content of the sediments in the gas hydrate stability zone is generally <2% of the pore space, although this estimate may increase by a factor of 2 when patchy zones of locally higher gas hydrate content are included in the calculation. These patchy zones are structurally and stratigraphically controlled, contain up to 20% hydrate in the pore space when averaged over zones ~10 m thick, and may occur in up to ~20% of the region imaged by 3D seismic data. This heterogeneous gas hydrate distribution is an important constraint on models of gas hydrate formation in marine sediments and the response of the sediments to tectonic and environmental change