Michael Middleton University of New Hampshire
This project provides support for a planning visit ? for the PI and three co-PIs - to Gorno-Altaisk State University in Russia. The US principal investigator is Michael Middleton from the University of New Hampshire. The foreign collaborator is Natalya Yurkova. The primary purpose of this planning visit is to develop a collaboration on Indigenous student motivation for learning science.
This project will continue an international collaboration with majority and Indigenous educators and researchers to examine science learning in 5 different Indigenous cultures worldwide (Hawaii, Taiwan, Siberia, Aotearoa New Zealand and Belize). While in Siberia, the PIs will work with Indigenous teachers to receive feedback and refine the project?s conceptual framework and research methods. They will test protocols for interviews and classroom observations, collect pilot data on science instruction, motivation, and the integration of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into the classroom. They will continue planning for a larger research study that examines how children in Indigenous cultures develop a positive identity as science learners. They will also explore how incorporating sense of place into the curriculum, integrating traditional ecological knowledge and Western science, may foster cultural and science learning identity.
This project will extend the examination of place-based learning outside of North America and explore unifying themes regarding the role of place-based education in how schools can enhance Indigenous children?s identity as science learners.
Year 1 From May 9-19, 2010, our team traveled to and around the Altai Republic of Siberia in Russia to develop connections, partnerships, research questions and hypotheses with respect to the motivation and identity of Altai students as science learners. The team consisted of three Science Education Researchers with strong ecology backgrounds from the University of New Hampshire and Montana State University, one Ecologist with experience in science education from Paul Smith's College in New York, and one Education professional from Gorno-Altaisk State University. Two of the U.S. research team members were familiar with the Altai and had relationships with some of the professionals and areas we visited. During the 10 day visit we met with students, teachers, and principals from three schools (one city and two villages) and community leaders from two rural Altai villages. In addition, we visited two museums and one petroglyph site to learn more about the history and culture of the peoples in the area. Finally, we held a one day conference with teachers and researchers at the Gorno-Altaisk State University to present research from both sides, and discuss future research collaboration opportunities based on the interests of both groups. The outcomes in this report are based on our daily written reflections of observations in classrooms and communities, casual recorded interviews with students and teachers in each school, discussions with community leaders, and the conversations that ensued among the research team members. Preliminary results show that the Altai language is intact and used in daily life; Altai people are in positions of power in the government and educational institutions; and cultural knowledge and traditions exist with the family and community structure. The three schools we visited differed in the way they taught science. The Republic of Altai seems to be unique in that the village teachers seem to use more traditional knowledge in the teaching of science and that the family and communities used traditional knowledge more than we have observed in our other sites. However, it was difficult to tell what influence that might have on the students’ identity as science learners given the short time we were there. Year 2 The focus of the second year was to continue building supportive partnerships, to present data from the Siberia and related trips, and to plan our next steps for research. Dr. Eleanor Abrams, was invited to join a group of researchers from Montana State University to return to Gorno-Altaisk for a follow-up visit in July 2010 for 10 days. She visited Onguday and participated in meetings with local leaders and teachers, and discussed community needs for future research projects. At the American Educational Research Association meeting in April 2011, Drs. Middleton and Abrams strengthened our partnerships with Indigenous researchers and scholars through participation in a Special Interest Group on Indigenous Research. We have begun the Collaborative for Rural and Indigenous Science Education (CIRSE) which has been partially funded from a research leveraging grant from the Univeristy of New Hampshire. The collaborative provides a structure for organizing our work in Indigenous and rural communities, updates members on each others’ work, and provides a clearinghouse for research data being collected among our member partners. In September 2011, we brought together many of our regional, U.S. and international partners, including Dr. Natalia Yurkova from Gorno-Altaisk State University for a three day conference at UNH on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and two day grant planning session. The data collected in the trips to the Altai have been presented in several places. Dr. Natalia Yurkova presented her work as part of a keynote panel "International perspectives on integrating TEK in schools: Promises and pitfalls for student learning" at the September 2011 TEK conference at UNH. During her trip to Siberia, Dr. Abrams presented an invited talk at Gorno-Altaisk State University on indigenous youths motivation and identity for science learning. She also gave an invited keynote address to the Taiwan National Science Council based partially on the data from Siberia titled "Pedagogies of Hope: Conscientizing Culturally Relevant Teaching for Indigenous Learners in Science and Mathematics." Currently we have several plans as a result of our work on this grant to continue our research on science education in rural and Indigenous children including the Altai region. For example, several members of our research collaborative CIRSE have taken initial steps to research cross cultural perspectives on children’s writing about spirituality and the land. Participants in the project will include members of our research team from University of New Hampshire, Gedakina (a multigenerationaly endeavor to strengthen and revitalize the cultural knowledge and identity of Native American youth and families in New England), Turtle Mountain Community College in North Dakota, and Providence University and National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan.
