Indigenous Values in Education

Alaska Natives all hold certain values to be paramount to our cultures. These cultural values help define our heritages and have been lived and passed down for thousands of years. Many Elders in their respective villages identified cultural values in the early 1980s in hopes of helping communities heal from the problems of suicide and drug and alcohol abuse introduced by Outsiders. Many villages formalized their cultural values to ensure future generations retain, teach, and live their ways of life. This case study unites two research projects using Indigenous methodologies to advance an understanding of respective cultural values, and implementing the values with children, families, communities, and the school. The combined research evolves from metaphysical and philosophical means to actualizing cultural values in a kindergarten classroom in a remote village in Alaska.