Research Statement:
I believe increased numbers of Hawaiian high school students in rural, isolated communities would take and be successful in advanced science and math placement classes if a culture based science curriculum was integrated in the middle school.
Beaulieu, D. L. (2000). Comprehensive reform and american indian education. Journal of American Indian Education, 39(2). 1-17.
Dr. Beaulieu, who wrote this article in 2000, was the Director of Office of Indian Education, U.S. Department of Education from 1991-1996. He was the first American Indian to be appointed as a Commissioner in the Minnesota State Government. This research was collected in areas throughout the U.S. where Tribal schools and schools where Native American communities were located. This article was written for educators and stakeholders in education, whose focus is on the education of Native/Minority American students. This article’s purpose is to provide evidence “that schools as organizations can, in fact, be transformed and improved and that this improvement would result in increased levels of student achievement for all learners, particularly Native American learners.”
This article investigated barriers to Native Indian children’s academic success as well as identified factors related to their academic success. Recent research supports the author’s conclusions that factors that result in low achievement of Native American learners include high rates of staff turnover, high dropout rates, and inconsistent models of school reform in schools that serve tribal communities. It also identified positive directions that tribal governments and Indian communities have moved towards: culturally appropriate and more effective school reform; missions and purposes that meet the social, cultural, and economic needs and requirements of developing Native communities; and collaboration between parents and communities to define purposes and goals to guide education with clear direction synchronized with community developments.
Castagno, A. E., Brayboy, B. M. J. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for indigenous youth: a review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78 (4). 941-993.
Angelina Castagno, an assistant professor in College of Education at Northern Arizona University, focuses her work on Indigenous education, multicultural education, and critical race and Whiteness studies. Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy is Borderlands Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Arizona State University and President’s Professor of Education at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. His work focuses on Indigenous education, Indigenous knowledge systems, and the experiences of students, staff, and faculty of color in institutions of higher education. In 2008 this article was written with a the primary purpose being to review the literature on CRS for Indigenous youth in the United States, and provide a comprehensive, yet readable, overview of the work to prompt discussion and changes in practice among educators working with Indigenous students.
This article provides: 1) an historical overview of efforts to articulate CRS for Indigenous youth; 2) a discussion of a number of definitions for CRS, including both what is and what is not included in most definitions; 3) a review of the most common reasons given for educators to engage in CRS for Indigenous youth; 4) an overview of the two most frequently discussed topics related to CRS for Indigenous youth- pedagogy and curriculum; 5) discussion of teacher characteristics that are necessary for engaging in CRS; 6) a discussion of school- and district-level issues related to CRS; and 7) some case studies and examples of successful attempts at CRS for Indigenous youth.
Chinn, P.W.U. (2007). Decolonizing methodologies and indigenous knowledge: the role of culture, place and personal experience in professional development. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 44(9). 1247-1268.
This article was written in 2007 by Pauline W. U. Chinn, a professor of Curriculum Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. This study reports findings from a 10-day professional development institute on curricular trends involving 19 secondary mathematics and science teachers and administrators from around the world, and explored three questions: 1. How would teachers evaluate traditional/indigenous knowledge and its role in curriculum before and after exposure to Native Hawaiian practices oriented to sustainability? 2. Would there be evidence of transformative learning defined as interest in developing place-based curriculum relevant to environmental issues? 3. Would place, culture, and prior experience figure in their lessons and evaluations?
Participants explored the roles of culture, place, and personal experience in science education through writings and group discussions. The findings, relevant for educators and stakeholders of educational practice, suggest that critical professional development can raise teachers’ awareness of the connections among personal and place-based experiences, cultural practices and values, and teaching and learning. An implication was the development of a framework for professional development able to shift science instruction toward meaningful, culture, place, and problem- based learning.
Demmert, W.G. Jr. (2005). The influences of culture on learning and assessment among native american students. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice. 20(1). 16–23.
The author of this article, written in 2005, is William G. Demmert, Jr., a professor of education at Western Washington University. He was the first U.S. Deputy Commissioner of Education for the Office of Indian Education and served as Director of Education for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He was also Commissioner of Education for the State of Alaska, co-chair of the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and primary writer for the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force Report. Dr. Demmert works with Ministries of Education in Russia, Canada, Greenland, Alaska, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to improve the academic performance of indigenous peoples in each country.
The purpose of this article is to look at influences of culture on assessments of Native American students. The research cited is information from national data sources on the achievement of Native American students. “Cultural aspects of assessment and principles of assessment are discussed, using personal experiences to encourage others to reflect on cultural aspects of assessment. The article ends with the argument that there is much to learn about assessing Native American and other minority students, taking into account the external influences of culture, environment, attitudes, context, and perspectives.”
Avery, L. M., Kassam, K. (2011). Phronesis: children’s local rural knowledge of science and engineering. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 26(2). 1-21.
Dr. Leanne M. Avery, a professor of Elementary Science at Cornell University, and Karim-Aly Kassam, International Professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, authored this study in 2011. This study uses Aristotle’s concept of phronesis, or practical wisdom, to analyze videotaped interviews and 407 photographs taken by 20 – 5th and 6th grade students in rural New York State. This data was used to document and frame the findings and their implications, for their science and engineering learning. “Key findings indicate that: 1) All 20 children found examples of science and engineering; 2) The children learned by observing or doing or both; 3) The children learned from family members, particularly parents and grandparents; 4) These 20 children learned numerous science and engineering concepts by participating in activities associated with their daily lives; and 5) Only when directly probed did students make explicit connections between what they learned outside school in their local environments and what they learned in the science classroom. These findings point to the need to anchor the teaching and learning of science and engineering in the students’ experiential habitat; thus, bridging the gap between children’s local knowledge and global science.
