Maxine Hildebrandt and Lisl Gunderman

Mother Earth's Children's Charter School, Devon and Wildwood School, Wildwood (Alberta)

Through a unique teaching partnership, Ms. Hildebrandt and Ms. Gunderman created an experiential and collaborative learning environment for their young students.

The project brought together the students from the Grade 3-4 class of Mother Earth's Children's Charter School, Canada's first and only Indigenous charter school and the Grade 4-5 class of Wildwood School, a tiny rural public school.

Through a series of classroom projects, joint field trips and exchanges over a period of four months, the students learned about the history of Alberta and their communities.

The cultural exchange allowed students to explore topics from both the traditional Indigenous knowledge and Western science perspectives and incorporated research and writing, traditional storytelling, and land-based learning.

This study of history unified groups with differing perspectives and resulted in meaningful and transformational bonds between teachers, students, and communities.