When planning a program for Aboriginal learners, it may be important to design lessons using all 4 aspects of the human being: mind, body, heart and skills.

For Aboriginal people, learning can begin with the spirit or intuition. "When the spirit senses something, you can be made aware... The learning process... moves from the spirit to the heart, then through the mind and finally expresses itself in the body. "⁶

Learning can also start when "new information is coming at us from the outside, it has to go through the body first, then through the mind, then it has to reach the heart, before it hits us deep within our spirits or the part of us that intuitively knows."⁸ While this may seem contradictory, it is not. The learning process for Aboriginal learners takes into consideration that knowledge can come from two sources - both from within and outside the person.

⁶ Dianne Hill, "Prior Learning Assessment Recognition: Applications for an Aboriginal Model of Holistic Learning." Joe Duquette High School. Saskatoon, November 16, 2001. Used with permission from Dianne Hill.
⁷ Dianne Hill, "Prior Learning Assessment Recognition: Applications for an Aboriginal Model of Holistic Learning." Joe Duquette High School. Saskatoon, November 16, 2001. Used with permission from Dianne Hill.
⁸ Dianne Hill, "Prior Learning Assessment Recognition: Applications for an Aboriginal Model of Holistic Learning." Joe Duquette High School. Saskatoon, November 16, 2001. Used with permission from Dianne Hill.