Confronting Climate Change with Indigenous Wisdom and Western Science

Glen S. Aikenhead has a B.Sc. (Hons) in chemistry and physics from the University of Calgary (1965), and an MA from Harvard (1966). He enjoyed three years of teaching high school science and math before embarking on a Doctorate of Science Education at Harvard (1972), during which he established his life-long research program: humanistic school science for everyday life, defined by students' real-life experiences. He took up a full professorship at Saskatchewan's College of Education in 1980. About a decade later, he made a mid-course correction to his research program by giving increased emphasis to the unique cultural challenges faced by Indigenous students in Western science and math classes. Guided by Elders, he learned to interpret the world from the perspective of Indigenous wisdom. Professor Aikenhead is the author of 10 academic books, and has served as visiting professor at institutions around the world, including Tokyo University of Science, Japan; Kristianstad University, Sweden; the University of Lisbon, Portugal; Providence University, Taiwan; and the University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand.