Introduction and Welcome
Welcome to the Positive Planning Map and Toolkit. This resource has been developed as part of a Women in STEM Courses Project. It has been designed with STEM students in mind but can be used by anyone.
In our work we acknowledge the value of First Peoples’ knowledge sharing techniques through narrative stories that describe how things came to be, how they now live and how they will flourish into the future. These are called the Dreamtime stories, that exist forever as a repository of knowledge about Country and people. These knowledges are thousands of years old and are improving current learning strategies.
We are adopting some similar narrative approaches in this eBook to help you create a story you will remember and so develop a learning flow. We will help you develop a narrative to guide your learning journey and realise your potential in in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). We are braiding First Peoples’ ways of thinking with other approaches and tools to provide a toolkit that can be used by everyone.
The toolkit gives direction and equips you for your own journey offering both western and First Peoples’ approaches, you can choose what suits your story. Like any trip or adventure your learning journey may take different routes and detours along the way. You may also get lost or find obstacles, and need help to find your path and achieve your goals.
Alternatively you may see the story itself as your journey, building up an understanding of how and why you learn over time. We encourage you to find the way that suits you to increase your understanding of learning.
We provide six steps to prepare your positive planning story. At each step you will need to take some notes and then choose activities and tools that you feel suit you and your journey. You can choose to use a mind mapping tool or construct each step using other tool options. It is your journey and up to you on how you choose to represent it!
Remember to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
Click this link to listen a visualisation for self reflection to get you started: The Past, Future, The Now. *Note this is an audio only activity