Disproportionately few Native Americans obtain baccalaureate science degrees and become employed as scientists. A major reason for the scarcity of Native Americans with baccalaureate science degrees is the relatively low number of Native American science majors at tribal colleges. The project goal is to increase the number of Turtle Mountain Community College students majoring in science, and to produce attractive, effective modular materials in interdisciplinary science that can and will be used at other tribal colleges. The projects objectives are to enhance science laboratories with: multimedia materials, materials with increased cultural content, greater emphasis on local natural resources, and improved pedagogical design, particularly increased cooperative learning. This project will design a module on fish species composition, another on fish life histories, and a third on effects of water quality on fish. Turtle Mountain fish species will be the focus of all modules. In each module, students will perform field exercises (in local lakes) and laboratory exercises in cooperative groups. Students will learn to pronounce the Ojibwa an Metis names for each fish and learn Ojibwa legends about fish. The final product will be a CD-ROM-based interactive program for beginning biology, chemistry, ecology, language, and wildlife courses. Students and an external evaluator will evaluate the curriculum. The design of the field and laboratory exercises will be evaluated and baseline data will be collected. The results and products of this work will be disseminated using presentations at professional meetings, mailings to other tribal colleges, and the assistance of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium AIHEC.
