Four classes of Year 4 students were recently treated to a storytelling and ‘String Theory’ workshop with proud Yawibara/South Sea Islander educator, Gabrielle Quakawoot at Matthew Flinders Anglican College in preparation for NAIDOC Week 2024 from 7-14 July.
The workshop was part of their Term 2 i-Impact curriculum unit, with students challenged to explore innovative ways to include Indigenous culture and traditions on campus to support the College’s reconciliation journey.
The students will ideate and design ways to ‘Keep the Fire Burning’, which is the theme for NAIDOC Week 2024 to honour the enduring strength and vitality of First Nations culture.
i-Impact is a signature program in the Flinders Primary School that empowers students to use design thinking to empathise, ideate and prototype innovative solutions to cultural, social and environmental issues.
During the workshop, Gabrielle shared her cultural knowledge about the Gubbi Gubbi peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the Land the College is set upon, on the Mooloolah Plains at the foot of Buderim Mountain.
Gabrielle shared information about the way Indigenous peoples used pieces of string to tell stories and pass on their knowledge, which is known as ‘String Theory’ and links astronomy, Indigenous culture and the mathematical brain.
Gabrielle explained that these inherited ancient knowledge systems were first introduced to her before she started school, as child’s play.
Students learned how to make shapes with a piece of string to go with stories relating to local animals, plants and places. And then they shared their new string game with the College Principal, Ms Michelle Carroll!
Gabrielle also introduced the Gubbi Gubbi people and asked students to choose a moity based on which side of the river they were from. The clans students looked at each had totem animals with significance to the local area.
Flinders Year 4 Teacher, Mrs Katie Dawson, said, “Gabrielle was certainly able to ‘spark a fire’ in the minds of our Year 4 students, our young i-Impacters, showing us the ancient ways language, story and kinship are intertwined.
“The students were clearly fascinated to explore with Gabrielle how storytelling evokes emotions and draws on memories.
“These cognitive connections will be the foundation for further human-centred design solutions in our community and will help to spread the NAIDOC Week message.”
A group of staff at Flinders Primary School attended Gabrielle’s presentation at the '2023 Kids in Action' conference, an environmental education program on the Sunshine Coast.
The staff were fascinated to learn from Gabrielle about Cultural Mathematics Curriculum Design and Ancient Knowledge Systems.
To learn more about the Flinders Primary School curriculum, visit here.
