Guided Reflection
Guided Reflection
(Estimated 4.5 hours to complete)
We have created four menus (four pathways of study) for you to do at your own pace within the allotted time frame. The menus have been designed to provide you with the space to engage with many of the topics covered in the training at an individual level. We request that you really go through each item on the menu with a critical eye/ear and situate yourself within the systems of power and oppression that each story or report provides.
Each menu contains the following four elements:
A new perspective
A discussion on racism
A story that centres marginalized voices
Ties to the land and knowledge
Each menu will take around four and a half hours to complete and will offer you a mix of videos, audio and texts to further your knowledge. Please choose only one of the four menus and follow the menu in the order listed:
Menu 1: Ways of Knowing | Menu 2: Racism in STEM | Menu 3: General Discussions on Race and Racism | Menu 4: Pour les francophones/philes |
When Scientists “Discover” What Indigenous People Have Known For Centuries | Decolonise science – time to end another imperial era | 37 | Faut-il « manger comme des Blancs » pour être en santé? | |
Big Thinking - Leroy Little Bear: Blackfoot metaphysics 'waiting in the wings' | |||
Amazon tribe creates 500-page traditional medicine encyclopedia | Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Place-Based Learning in the STEM Classroom |
After going through all the content in the menu that you selected, please take a pen and paper and respond to the following questions on your own before having a conversation with your team. We recommend that team leaders create a sharing circle to discuss what participants learnt throughout the training and open a dialogue on the reflection questions. Note that it is incredibly important that you finish this directed reflection in order to finish your training.
Menu | Question(s) |
Option 1: Ways of Knowing | In analyzing your identity and the history of the land upon which you find yourself, what are your responsibilities towards the knowledge produced by the original stewards of the land? (250 words max) OR What can Actua do to decolonize STEM knowledge production and sharing in partnership with Indigenous, racialized and marginalized peoples to make STEM more welcoming for all? (250 words max) |
Option 2: Racism in STEM | What aspects of your identity grant you power and privilege in STEM fields? How? (250 words max) OR As someone in STEM, what can you do to diversify STEM professions in a way that recognizses the history of oppression associated with STEM? (250 words max) |
Option 3: General Discussions on Race and Racism | What aspects of your identity grant you power and privilege in your community? How? (250 words max) OR What are ways that you can demonstrate solidarity (allyship) with those of identities that have historically been oppressed in Canadian society? (250 words max) |
Option 4: Pour les francophones/philes | Qu’est-ce qui signifie pour vous une francophonie canadienne inclusive et respectueuse? (max de 300 mots) OU Qu’est-ce que vous pouvez faire dans le cadre de vos études/votre travail afin de lutter activement contre le racisme et pour la justice sociétale? (max de 300 mots) |
All the Participants | How would you reword Actua's stated mission to better support anti-racism? (250 words max) AND Outline an idea for a lesson plan in STEM that YOU could lead that centres the voices of oppressed peoples not often heard from in your field (no maximum number of words) Please specify the oppressed peoples that you would be highlighting in this idea, and please be specific (for example, you cannot highlight "Indigenous peoples" but you can highlight Mi'kmak knowledge in marine biology; you cannot highlight "people of colour" but you can highlight Afro-Nova Scotian achievements in engineering) |
Anti-racism in STEM
- Getting Started
- Message from Actua
- Introduction
- 1. Identity and Intersectionality
- 2. Positionality and Worldview
- 3. Discrimination
- 4. History of Whiteness and STEM
- 5. Systemic Racism and Anti-racism
- 6. Racism in STEM
- 7. Racism in the Classroom
- 8. Ancestral Accountability and Allyship
- 9. Privilege
- 10. Interventions and Conflict Resolution with Chi…
- 11. Decolonizing STEM in the Classroom
- Guided Reflection
- Survey
- Credits and References