Explanation

Grounding learning experiences in the local context honoring participants’ cultural knowledge, practices, and materials as valuable foundations for creative exploration.

Connections to Theory

In the educational context, Cultural Modeling (Lee, 2003) can support students in learning academic concepts by linking them to the funds of knowledge they develop through home and community experiences.

Examples

Teachers were introduced to a sample lesson based on Cultural Modeling. In this demo lesson, teachers explored the phases of the moon (the target academic concept) using cultural knowledge from the Nepali lunar calendar and relevant cultural datasets, such as the timing of festivals, eclipses, birthdays, and celebrations like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. This approach illustrated how academic learning can be meaningfully connected to students’ everyday practices and cultural contexts.
For the Novel, we selected the folktale titled The Lattice Window (Figure 14), which tells the story of how the locals of Kipu, a town in Kathmandu, got rid of Kawa:, a skeleton ghost. The book was chosen for its cultural relevance, as lattice windows are prominent motifs in many temples and historic palaces in Kathmandu, making the story relatable to the teachers’ own experiences. To further connect with local culture, we also provided copies in Nepal Bhasha, an indigenous language of the Newar people which is taught in many public schools in Kathmandu.

Figure 14: Illustration from The Lattice Window

Rupa shared that a drawing activity sparked a childhood memory of drawing temples in her sketchbook, a practice taught by a teacher using simple steps to create complex images. Although she had long forgotten how to draw the temples, the workshop allowed her to revisit this memory. The temple (Figure 15) emerged as a recurring symbol in her visual expression, representing a strong foundation, both in design and in the values she wished to convey. For Rupa, temples became powerful metaphors for the qualities needed in herself and her community, linking personal, cultural, and pedagogical meaning.

Figure 15: Rupa’s temple drawing

Implications

Professional learning should draw on local knowledge, contexts, and community practices to ensure relevance and ownership. For teachers, it means reimagining learning not as something that happens apart from their community, but as something deeply rooted in it. When teachers work with locally available materials, local stories, and shared experiences, they model for students how creativity and problem-solving can emerge from their own cultural worlds.