Rooted Teaching: Indigenous Perspectives for Project-Based Learning is the result of Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Project-Based Learning 2025 Summer Fellows program.
As a PBL Fellow, I aimed to create a resource for educators who want to incorporate Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies into their project-based learning (PBL) curricula. I attempted to think broadly about resources, implementation, and potential application across disciplines and educational contexts. My hope is that this resource invites more educators to explore how Indigenous pedagogies can broaden their students’ PBL experiences.
This website is divided into 4 different areas:
- Modules and Implementation Guide
- 5 detailed modules designed for incorporation into different classroom settings.
- Sample Materials
- Examples of scalable projects, assignments, and activities.
- Glossary
- Key terms and texts for educators.
- Rooted Teaching in Honolulu
- Applied use of the modules and implementation guide for a PBL course with project work in Honolulu, Hawai’i.
About Zoë
Zoë Antoinette Eddy, PhD, is an educator, researcher, and advocate dedicated to re-imagining learning. She currently works as an Assistant Professor of Teaching at the Department of Integrative and Global Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. At WPI, she is the co-Director for the Hawai’i Project Center. She is involved in a variety of activities, including serving as a faculty mentor for Harvard Medical School’s Media and Medicine program and as elected Chair of the Board for RedRover. She is in the process of completing her Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a focus on culturally-integrated care for at-risk youth and adolescents. As a broadly interdisciplinary anthropologist, Zoë attempts to incorporate her training in different fields to create humane, equitable, and innovative pedagogies.
Across her work, Zoë seeks to bring Indigenous perspectives into places where they are frequently ignored. This includes through public art projects, opensource scholarship, and collaborative research. When she’s not working, she’s actively trying to get out to the ocean as much as possible. (Pictured: Zoë in her Worcester Polytechnic Institute office.)
Rooted Teaching 