FROM STARS ABOVE TO WATER BELOW:
Indigenous Stories of STEM Education for Mathematical Flourishing
May 13 and May 20, 2025 (Virtual)
The skies hold stories, the Elders say. Looking up, maybe you’ve experienced the Northern Lights as Spirits dancing across the winter sky? Or perhaps you’ve seen the Northern Lights as “Ancestors Checking In” as painted by Haida artist Billy Yovanovich? Across cultures and millennia humans have looked to the skies, stars, moon and sun for spiritual connection, guidance on living a good life, and direction for navigating across time and place.
Indigenous astronomy offers stories, not of a static sky, but one full of multiple dimensions that help guide relationships between humans and more-than-human worlds. It binds water, stars, land, humans and more-than-humans with the cycles of sky movements and rhythms of the celestial sky. And all of this is linked to practices of living well with each other and Earth.
This year’s theme – From Stars Above to Water Below: Indigenous Stories of STEM Education for Mathematical Flourishing – embraces connections between Indigenous astronomy, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education, water as life-worlds, and Indigenous stories.
Session 1: Indigenous Astronomy, Water Science, and STEM Curriculum to Inspire Youth – Dr. Shandin Pete
May 13, 2025; 3:30-5:00 pm PT (Virtual)
Our Keynote Speaker was Dr. Shandin Pete from Nłq̓alqʷ (“Place of the thick trees”, Arlee, Montana). Shandin is of the Bitterroot Band of Salish in Montana and Diné from Beshbihtoh Valley in Arizona. An Assistant Professor of Teaching in UBC’s Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Shandin is also a hydro-geologist and science educator interested in Indigenous astronomy, culturally responsive education, and Indigenous science philosophies.
Shandin is currently designing curriculum grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and philosophies of science in UBC’s Faculty of Science. He is working to create an inaugural First Salmon Ceremony at UBC creating opportunities for inter-cultural learning for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
Dr. Shandin Pete’s presentation and follow-up discussion prepared us for the May 20th Session 2 Igniting the Sparkle Circle Sharing Sessions and the importance of reciprocity for sharing our work together.
Session 2: Igniting the Sparkle Sharing
May 20, 2025; 3:30-5:00 pm PT (Virtual)
In Session 2, educators shared ideas, projects, activities, and questions all related to teaching practice, bringing Indigenous pedagogies and ways of knowing together with math education.
Johanne Nielsen and Brandi Price
Johanne is from the traditional territory of Bella Bella and has been working as an Indigenous Literacy and Numeracy Support Teacher with the North Vancouver School District.
Brandi is of Ligwildaxw and Kwakwaka’wakw descent. Her family comes from both Kingcome Inlet and Cape Mudge communities. She has been an Indigenous educator for sixteen years and the Indigenous Literacy and Numeracy teacher in the North Vancouver School District.
Johanne and Brandi organized a math mentorship day at a local high school, creating opportunities for students, teachers, and staff to engage with Indigenous math and logic games in a positive and meaningful way. Participants explored connections between these games and mathematical concepts such as probability, percentages, and diverse Indigenous cultures. The event also included the voices of two local Indigenous knowledge holders, who shared valuable insights into Indigenous approaches to learning.
Tracy Parkes
Tracy works in Lakeshore School Division, which operates on Treaty 1 and 2 lands—the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, Ininew, Oji-Cree, Dakota, Lakota, and Dene Peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. She has served as a Numeracy Support Teacher across ten schools.
Tracy shared how using an Indigenous lens to guide culturally responsive approaches shaped her current work in math support. Centering learning in Treaty 1 and 2 territories deepened her understanding of relationship-based education and how meaningful connections could be built between mathematics, community, and student identity.
Chelcy Ross and Monica Bergeron
Chelcy is the District Coordinator of Indigenous Education for SD73, living on unceded Secwépemc territory. With 20 years of elementary teaching experience, she supports educators in deepening practice in numeracy and Indigenous Storywork through culturally responsive, Indigenous knowledge–centered learning design and empowerment.
Monica Bergeron is the District Numeracy Coordinator for SD73. With over 20 years of experience teaching math and science in SD 73 and SD 28, she now supports teachers and students in building math confidence and integrating both aboriginal education topics and interdisciplinary ideas into their mathematics curriculum.
Chelcy and Monica led a smaller-scale project focused on the 4 R’s of Indigenous Storywork and BC math competencies. Their Circle of Learning Book Club explored Richard Wagamese’s The Animal People Choose a Leader through Zoom sessions and an in-person dinner gathering.
Lauraine Wakely
Lauraine is a non-Indigenous teacher with Ascend Online School. She lives in Kamloops, British Columbia and is grateful to live on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc territory, situated within the unceded ancestral lands of the Secwépemc Nation. Lauraine’s heritage is Irish, and several of her family members are Metis and Cree. She has been fortunate to work and learn with the Little Red River Cree Nation in Northern Alberta. Her school, Ascend Online, is committed to Truth and Reconciliation and to the First Peoples Principles of Learning.
Lauraine suggested that daily talking about various math concepts and introducing the language of mathematics can help alleviate student fears from unknown vocabulary, encouraging exploration of the concepts that the word introduces, and promoting understanding of the conceptual language.
Samantha Morey and Jennifer Dionne
Samantha teaches Grade 6/7 on the unceded ancestral land of the Lheidli T’enneh in Prince George, School District 57. She works to Indigenize math and shift students’ relationships with it from reluctant to engaged. She enjoys making learning fun, meaningful, and accessible for all of students.
Jennifer is a non-Indigenous educator living on “The Land of the People of the Confluence of the River” (Lheidli T’enneh). She is the Numeracy Helping Teacher (K-12) for SD 57. She is passionate about encouraging teachers to include local Indigenous stories into their teaching practice and exploring how we can encourage students to find math in these stories.
This is Samantha and Jennifer’s third collaborative project explored through mentorship. Sam’s Grade 6/7 class guided Kindergarten buddies, inspired by Jen Whiffin and Joy Fast’s Outdoor Math and Indigenous Storywork principles of Reciprocity and Respect. They shared their final project along with their learning journey.
Nichola Williams
Nichola is a non-Indigenous math/science teacher working in the Qualicum School District (SD69), which resides on Coast Salish Territory and within the shared territory of the Snaw’naw’as and Qualicum First Nations. Nichola is currently completing a Master’s of Education through UBC and is focusing on incorporating place and culture into her teaching.
Nichola shared her journey of creating and delivering a secondary math task based in Indigenous Storywork. The focus was to create a task that felt meaningful in terms of culture and organic in terms of alignment with math concepts. The task centered around the story of champagne coloured raccoons on Saysutshun, an island provincial park located in the territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation by Nanaimo.
Matteo Tamburini and Kayshish Pichette-Cline
Matteo was born and raised near Florence. His father was Italian and his mother is a descendant of Irish settlers to the Dakotas. He lives in the traditional homeland of the Lhaq’temish and other Coast Salish people, in Bellingham, Washington, and has been teaching Mathematics at Xwlemi Elh>Tal> Nexw Squl (Northwest Indian College) for over a decade.
Kayshish is from the Nooksack Tribe and Lummi Nation. She is currently enrolled in the mathematics program at Western Washington University (located in Bellingham, Washington) and is a Northwest Indigenous College Alumni, as well as been a math tutor at NWIC for 3 years.
Through an NSF-funded research project, they’ve held story-sharing sessions with former students, friends, and community members, gathering stories behind their assignment contributions to enrich classroom work and deepen connections between algebra and Indigenous identity.
Josh Essery
Josh teaches Grades 6 and 7 at T̓łisa̱lagi’lakw School in ‘Yalis, BC. This is his 8th year teaching, with four years in ‘Yalis, also known as Alert Bay on Cormorant Island which is located at the meeting point of the Broughton and Johnstone Straits. Situated in unceded Kwakwaka’wakw territory, ‘Yalis is home to the world’s tallest k̓i’kw (totem pole).
Joshua shared how he used Indigenous Storywork and place-based learning to teach mathematics through a culturally grounded inquiry. Inspired by the question, “How big is Big Figure (Zunaqua)?,” he guided students through a math investigation using local Kwakwaka’wakw legends.
Alexis Barrett, Heather Tegart, and Kristin Insull
Alexis teaches Grades 3–5 at Nicholson Elementary in Golden, BC. She has lived and taught in Grades 4–7 in Golden for eight years. Formerly a high school teacher in North Vancouver, she taught Social Studies and Home Economics. She now studies BC Indigenous Peoples at Queen’s University. She enjoys collaborating with Heather and Kristin on the Pen Pal Numeracy project.
Heather teaches Grade 4/5 at Edgewater Elementary and is the Grade 5–7 French specialist. She’s worked in SD6 for eight years, with prior experience in Edmonton and Manitoba. A gardening and animal lover, she’s collaborated with Alexis and Kristin on literacy and numeracy projects—and shares a fun name connection with Alexis!
Kristin is District Vice Principal of Numeracy for Rocky Mountain School District No. 6, on the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa and Sécwepemc peoples. Originally from the Red River Valley, she brings over a decade of secondary math teaching and leadership experience, with a focus on Indigenous inclusion in mathematics education.
Alexis, Heather, and Kristin have collaboratively developed a math-focused unit incorporating Indigenous ways of Knowing and observations of the natural world. Their project connected Alexis and Heather’s classes through a penpal format, culminating in a land-based field trip. They shared resources, a project outline, and how this cross-class collaboration supported math learning through cultural connections.
Alli Ridley
Alli is Cree-Métis and works in SD38 – Richmond, on the traditional and unceded territories of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking peoples. She has spent 19 years teaching in the primary grades, sharing her passion for place-based and outdoor learning. She currently serves as an Indigenous Pedagogy and Curriculum Teacher Consultant, supporting K-12 teachers and students in weaving the First Peoples Principles of Learning into their classrooms.
She shared the learning that took place over several months as Janice Novakowski and she worked with two primary teachers and their classes on an Indigenous Culture Community Mathematics Education grant. Together, they co-constructed learning experiences that encouraged students to think about mathematics through connections to land, place, and community. Their goal was to connect mathematics with Indigenous knowledge and ways of being, focusing on seasonal changes, local plants and animals, landforms, and weather.
Lena Miller and Mia Moutray
Lena is the District Numeracy Support Teacher for SD91 Nechako Lakes, located on the traditional territories of fourteen First Nations representing the Dakelh, Nedut’en, and Wet’suwet’en peoples across five municipalities: Fort St. James, Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake, Burns Lake, and Granisle. Previously, she was the mathematics department head at Nechako Valley Secondary School in Vanderhoof. Over the years, she has become an advocate for fostering joy and understanding in numeracy and mathematics through culturally relevant and responsive teaching.
Mia is a Vice Principal at EBUS Academy, a provincial online school in SD91 Nechako Lakes. She is also part of the Network of Inquiry and Indigenous Education, using Spirals of Inquiry to deepen her learning. Before joining EBUS, Mia taught Middle Years at the High School in Vanderhoof for nearly a decade, collaborating with colleagues to embed Indigenous perspectives and worldviews. In her current role, she works closely with the Indigenous Education Advocate at EBUS to support Indigenous online learners.
Mia and Lena met while working at Nechako Valley Secondary School and connected personally as first-generation settlers on this territory, both having moved from Europe after being exchange students. When Lena began her role as Numeracy Support Teacher in SD91 last year, she approached Mia about leading a book study for educators. Mia, not knowing much about math/numeracy jumped on the chance as she takes any opportunity to learn more about Indigenous world views and perspectives.
