Tribal perspectives in natural resource management and environment technology curricula.

More students than ever before are choosing to advance their education by attending community colleges, with some selecting programs in environmental science and technology To address the needs of these students, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has created the Advanced Technology' Environmental Education Center (ATEEC) and the Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources (NCSR).

ATEEC was created to define environmental technology occupations, particularly at the technician level. In March 1995, a forum was held, which resulted in a report, Partnering to Build a Quality Workforce: Critical Issues in Environmental Technology Education at Two-Year Colleges. It was recommended at this forum that there was a need to define/clarify what is meant by the "environmental technology" field. A second workshop was held; Defining Environmental Technology. The result of this NSF sponsored forum was identification of eleven occupational categories, one of which is Natural Resources Management.

The NCSR is a partnership of high schools, community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, private industry, governmental agencies, research groups, and Native American tribes. Its mission is to improve natural resources-based education programs at the high school and community college level to assure that students receive the best education possible to meet demands of the future. Featuring a "seamless" approach to natural resources education from middle and high schools to community colleges and four-year colleges and universities, grant funds are committed to serving the dual roles of enhancing natural resources curricula and providing an information network for the region and the nation.

In May 1997, the Northwest and North Central regions of the Partnership for Environmental Technology Education Center (PETE), in conjunction with ATEEC, held a Tribal Pre-Conference in connection with an annual Instructor's Conference in Jackson Hole, WY. Eighteen instructors from tribally-controlled community colleges attended the one day event, giving all participants insight into various programs at tribal colleges. At that time, the participants expressed a desire for networking with members of other community colleges for information sharing and/or providing further forums and faculty exchanges. To continue the exchange of information and networking among the various tribal colleges started in Jackson Hole, the Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources (NCSR) and the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), a partner in ATEEC, conducted a Tribal Forum in July, 1998. Information gathered at this forum will help to develop a module that will incorporate tribal beliefs and perspectives into existing natural resource management and environmental technology curricula.

On July 7, 1998, a group selected from both tribally-controlled and non-tribal community colleges convened at the Kah-Nee-Ta Resort in Warm Springs Oregon to share issues, knowledge, and work-based applications in the areas of natural resource management and environmental technology based curricula. The purpose of this forum was to promote the introduction of tribal perspectives into existing natural resource management and environmental science and technology curricula through sharing of curricula, knowledge, and work-based applications in these areas. In addition, from the knowledge gained during this forum, staff from NCSR, ATEEC and UNI will work jointly to develop a teaching module, Native American Perspectives in Natural Resources, that can be incorporated into existing curricula. All information gathered during this forum will be provided in a "proceedings of the forum" for dissemination to colleges who share common interests.

To gather information pertaining to existing programs, participants gave a short presentation about their institution, and then a longer presentation about a particular program. In addition, the participants analyzed the fisheries, GIS, and natural resources programs that take place at the Warm Spring Confederated Tribes Reservation and at Central Oregon Community College.

On the final day of the forum, the participants were asked to give recommendations for incorporating Native American perspectives into existing curriculum. Native American tribes are major stakeholders in natural resources issues and hold a deep reverence for the earth. They bring unique beliefs and perspectives to environmental science and technology Developing natural resources management and environmental technology curricula that includes these beliefs and perspectives encourages the ecosystems approach to solving environmental problems. The following recommendations and solutions were made:

Recommendations

1. More Instructors trained in Native American perspectives and resources are needed.

A workshop offered by the local tribes for native and non-native instructors (to learn about issues from a Native American perspective).

2. Parental disenchantment with education

Offer certificate or other incentives from educational institution to tribal elders/older tribal community members for earning educations credits (creates real buy-in)

College instructors must make extra efforts to communicate with parents of Native American students.

3. Student exchanges among community colleges and tribal community colleges.

4. College administrators must visit reservations.

5. Start using simple models of curricula to incorporate Native American perspectives.

6. Find a need and fill it; create Natural Resource Program in line with a specific need.

7. To understand the present, we need to know the past.

8. Don't lower expectations of student performance.

9. Don't get hung up on "Education & Training"

Actions to Achieve Recommendations

Lack of preparedness 

1. Make people aware of different learning styles so transfer of information can take place

2. Mentoring needs to take place to enrich and provide stability to the educational community. This mentoring needs to occur:

* among students;

* among educators;

* among students and educators;

* among students and community;

* among educators and community.

3. Provide access and opportunity for the educational community to interact with tribal members at cultural events and through multi-educational media.

(i.e. meetings, forums, seminars, videos, etc.)

4. Establish and maintain high expectations for the entire educational community.

Curriculum

5. Collaborative learning needs to occur among disciplines to integrate available information to the entire educational community.

6. Establish and maintain partnerships to assist in the continuous education process to keep up with the increasing demand for current science and technology information.

a) Websites b) Outreach c) Networking d) Telecourses e) Seminars f) Guest Speaker etc., etc., etc.

7. Incorporate a variety of teaching techniques to allow the entire educational community to achieve a desired learning outcome.

Infrastructure

8. Establish and maintain a long term and stable monetary support system for transfer of knowledge within the entire educational community.

a) partners in education (both government and/or private) b) foundations (public and/or private) c) alumni fundraising d) community support e) endowments

9. Collaborate with K-12 to establish a process for increasing competencies of the entire educational community.

10. Establish and maintain an outreach recruitment and retention program that will include the entire educational community.

Paying attention to the recommendations and actions suggested by the forum participants, we will develop a curriculum module to incorporate into an existing natural resource (or environmental) course that includes the unique perspectives of Native Americans.