Learning on Country: Reflections from ATSIMA 2025
Members of the CSER and Maths in Schools team had the privilege of attending the ATSIMA Biennial Conference on Lunawuni (Bruny Island), Lutruwita (Tasmania) .
CSER STEM Team member, Toni Falusi, shares some reflections from this special event.
To call it a “conference” doesn’t quite fit. It’s an immersive, relational learning experience. With fewer than 100 participants, ATSIMA intentionally created space for meaningful connection between educators, researchers, Elders, and community members. Instead of passively listening in lecture halls, participants engaged in conversations that stretched their thinking, grounded in the voices and knowledge of First Nations educators and leaders.
For four days, we learned in marquees with our feet on Palawa Country, sharing meals under the open sky and stories around the campfire. Conversations continued on lunchtime walks across the paddocks to the ocean’s edge, where reflections deepened and ideas took shape.
We listened to powerful stories from Uncle Rodney Dillon and Dewayne Everettsmith about the Palawa people, the strength, bravery, and resilience of Grandmother Smith (Fanny Cochrane Smith) and Truganini, and the enduring connections to place, language, and community. They spoke about listening to the environment and how numbers are about sustainability and developing an understanding of relationships between animals, land, and people. They also explained how important it is that we teach young people mathematics so that there is enough of earth’s resources to last and continue.
In the CSER - Maths in Schools presentation, Dr Caty Morris and I showcased the work we have been doing around First Nations Australian navigation and mapping: We Don’t Need a Map - Navigating Country. You can read more about this workshop in our previous blog post or watch a recording of our related webinar on the Mathematics Hub.
At the end of each presentation, time was set aside for participants to reflect, discuss, and distil key messages. These insights were captured collectively and scribed onto large sheets of paper that became visual records of our shared learning journey. By the final day, these reflections lined the walls of the marquee, forming a tapestry of interconnected ideas and perspectives.
During the closing session, participants gathered in small groups to identify common themes emerging from the week. Each group took one theme as its main focus, along with three connecting words that link to, and deepened the theme. Together, groups were challenged to explore how these ideas might translate into action and commitment beyond the gathering. It’s a thoughtful and creative process that moved from reflection to responsibility, asking: How will we take this learning forward?
The ATSIMA gathering invited us to think differently about mathematics, culture, and Country - how learning can be relational, embodied, and connected to land. It’s not just about what we teach, but how we teach. We returned with gratitude for the generosity of all who shared their knowledge, and with a renewed commitment to embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in our work in Digital Technologies and Mathematics education.
