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131[GPQ 36 (Spring 2016):131–146]

Th e Sharing Cycle of Science LearningConnecting Community Topics to Tribal College Lab Courses

Mark A. Griep, Beverly R. DeVore- Wedding, Janyce Woodard, and Hank Miller

Goal and Signifi cance

The goal of the Sharing Cycle of Science Learning project is to create sustainable

and culturally and locally relevant chemistry laboratory experiences at Nebraska Indian Community College (nicc) and Little Priest Tribal College (lptc). Both colleges are lo-cated in northeast Nebraska. nicc serves students living primarily on the Omaha Res-ervation, the Santee Sioux Reservation, and within the South Sioux City urban area. lptc

primarily serves students who belong to the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and live with-in the Sioux City urban area. To achieve our goal of developing a two- semester chemistry sequence, the team developed a method to connect science courses with community top-ics aft er considering factors ranging from the mission of tribal colleges to an examination of eff ective informal science education programs for American Indian youth.

Th e signifi cance of this project is that American Indian students are underrepre-sented in all science and engineering fi elds. For instance, “Native Americans and Alaska Natives” are underrepresented by almost 50 percent in chemistry as shown by the follow-ing statistics. Even though they are 1.2 percent of the US population (and 1.3 percent of Ne-braska’s population1), nationally they earned 0.8 percent of the bachelor’s degrees in chem-istry and 0.6 percent of the PhDs in chemis-try.2 Even more disparate is that Nelson and Brammer’s diversity survey found that only eight of the 2,787 (or 0.3 percent) tenure- track faculty in the Top 100 chemistry departments

Key Words: case studies, chemistry, science, sovereignty, tribal college

Mark Griep is an associate professor of chemistry at the Uni-versity of Nebraska– Lincoln. His research concerns the study of dna replication enzymes. He was awarded the unl Distin-guished Teaching Award and is nationally recognized for his lectures and published research about using movie clips to teach chemical concepts.

Beverly R. DeVore- Wedding works in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nebraska– Lincoln.

Janyce Woodard works in the Indigenous Science Department at the Little Priest Tribal College, Winnebago, Nebraska.

Hank Miller works in the Math and Science Division at the Nebraska Indian Community College, Santee, Nebraska.

132 Great Plains Quarterly, spring 2016

With these as guiding principles, tribal college faculty are charged with off ering a cutting- edge education based on a tribal worldview. When students learn science in this way, they strengthen their people’s sovereignty, a nec-essary component for the sustenance of their native language, land, history, and culture.

nicc was chartered in 1981 by the Oma-ha Tribe of Nebraska and the Santee Sioux Nation. In that same year, the North Central Association of Colleges approved the college for accreditation of associate degrees. Th e college has three campuses— in Macy, Santee, and South Sioux City. nicc instructors teach from one campus and reach students at the other two via videoteleconferencing. Of its 177 full- time students, 62 percent live on a reser-vation and 64 percent are women, the major-ity of whom have more than one dependent. Th roughout its history, 90 percent of nicc’s students have been American Indians repre-senting nine tribes. Th e college off ers seven degree programs, including associate of sci-ence degrees in Environmental Science and Health Science, in which the training for both could be enhanced by a chemistry course.

lptc was chartered by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska in 1994 and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission in 1996. Th e college has campuses in Winnebago and Sioux City. It is named for Little Priest, the last em-inent chief, who envisioned education as the path to future empowerment of the Winneba-go (Ho- Chunk) people. Of its 148 students, 32 percent live on the Winnebago Reservation, 56 percent are full- time, and 59 percent are women, many having more than one depen-dent. Th roughout its history, 94 percent of its students have been American Indians repre-senting ten tribes. Th e college off ers seven de-

were “American Indians, Native Alaskans, Hawaiians, or Pacifi c Islanders.”3 Th is under-representation is troubling because the fastest- growing occupations for the past half centu-ry in the United States have been dependent upon knowledge of science and mathemat-ics.4 In addition, changes in federal policy are slowly allowing self- governance of American Indian reservations, which has stimulated the need for better trained individuals to assist in managing tribal aff airs.5

Tribal College Mission and Nebraska’s Tribal Colleges

Th e American Indian Higher Education Con-sortium (aihec) and the Tribal College and University (tcu) system were created in 1973 and just celebrated their fortieth anniversa-ry.6 Th ere are now thirty- seven tcus (Fig. 1) serving about 20,000 students and providing services to an additional 46,000 community members. Half the institutions (19/37) are lo-cated within the Great Plains, including nicc and lptc. While refl ecting on the past and fu-ture of tcus, Cheryl Crazy Bull, president and ceo of the American Indian College Fund, wrote that “tribally- specifi c education . . . can facilitate the journey of our people through colonization and dependency and into the freedom of a new cultural sovereignty.”7 To achieve this, she said, “tcus must teach stu-dents how to approach these [Western laws that govern land, water, air, energy, and nat-ural resources] from the worldview of their tribal teachings, rather than from the worl-dview of mainstream society” and that “we use science, medicine, and technology as . . . resources for the work that our ancestors and those in the spirit world want us to do.”

Th e Sharing Cycle of Learning 133

to American Indian students by the inclusion of culturally rich examples.8 Th is approach would be most powerful when connected to a specifi c tribe’s culture. It should be noted in this regard that there are 566 federally recog-nized sovereign Indian nations (called tribes, bands, nations, pueblos, rancherias, com-munities, and Native villages) in the United States.9 Many of these nations have extensive written histories that can be used when devel-oping lessons. Alternatively, one could draw

gree programs, including associate of science degrees in Indigenous Science with either an environment or health emphasis.

Science Education from a Native Perspective

Th ere are a number of philosophical consid-erations when planning a science course with a tribal worldview. In the ethnoscience ap-proach, a science course can be made relevant

Fig. 1. Tribal colleges and universities that are members of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Th e 2014 enrollment fi gures for each institution were obtained from cappex.com, a college comparison website, and are shown in red. Th e boundary of the Great Plains is denoted by the irregular vertical red lines. Nineteen institutions (51%) are located within the Great Plains. Seven institutions (19%) are in the upper midwestern states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Five institutions (14%) are in the southwestern states of Arizona and New Mexico. Th ree institutions (8%) are in the northwestern states of Alaska and Washington. Th ere is a branch campus of Northwest Indian College in Idaho.


are rich in social, cultural, and historical sign-fi cance.13 Th is approach connects with native cultures because of their holistic view con-cerning land, language, and history. It is per-haps not pedagogically surprising, therefore, that most tribal colleges off er environmental science courses or that such courses are able to maintain sustainable enrollments. Under such favorable conditions, these types of science courses have evolved in response to persua-sive and passionate arguments about preserv-ing and reviving the American Indian science knowledge that is embedded within the cul-ture.14 Specifi cally, the place- based frame-work has been used successfully to develop an earth, ecological, and environmental science course serving native students and a climate change course serving native communities.15

Finally, there is a vast array of informal sci-ence education programs for native youth.16 Th ese programs provide a rich balance of cul-ture and science. Aft er all, the goal of informal science education is to give youth the freedom to explore science in a way that is meaning-ful to them. Such activities are demonstrated to lead to deeper understanding and com-mitment to science.17 Since every Indigenous community has a distinct culture and knowl-edge base, it is important to adapt informal science programs to local needs. Spurred on by this need, a partnership of three northern Great Plains tribes and a nonprofi t compa-ny created the Native Science Field Center in 2006 to identify environmental science programs for youth that integrate traditional knowledge, language, and science.18 Th e group assembled a Consensus Advisory Commit-tee of experts in native science to evaluate the many programs, and they maintain their fi ndings on their website (http://nationalser-viceresources.org/). During their analysis, the

from a given community’s oral histories about the phenomenon being discussed.

Th e ethnoscience approach gets to the heart of making science meaningful to un-derrepresented groups. Banks and colleagues coined the phrase “Life- Long, Life- Wide, and Life- Deep” to encapsulate the notion that most learning takes place throughout our lives, in formal and informal environments, and in ways that are acceptable to our lo-cal community (i.e., connected to religious, moral, ethical, and social values).10 Th ese Life Learning ideas arise from the realization that a small percentage of people’s lives are spent in structured, formal learning environments (18.5 percent for Grades 1– 12; 9.7 percent for undergraduates; 5.1 percent for graduates; and occasionally as adults). Since learners learn by asking questions, science learning will happen more oft en if their informal environments are science- rich. Furthermore, Banks and colleagues noted the majority culture is well served with currently available materials but that there is a need for an equitable amount of materials for diverse audiences.

Th e use of science case studies is another way to motivate students to learn and solve science problems.11 A few of these science case studies address topics of interest to American Indians but none are oriented to a tribal worl-dview. To fi ll this need, Evergreen State Col-lege in Olympia, Washington, has developed the “Enduring Legacies Native Cases.”12 Each of these case studies focuses on an important social or environmental topic identifi ed by na-tive leaders from across the United States and Canada. Th ese case studies tend to be very tribally specifi c while covering issues of broad Indian interest. However, only a few have a chemical angle.

Place- based education posits that places


to the land, water, air, energy, and natural re-sources in the student’s communities. Over fi ve years, this will create curricular materials that are applicable to a variety of disciplines but especially to science, engineering, and math courses.

Th e supposition of this project is that American Indian students will be more in-clined to engage and persist in chemical edu-cation when lessons and laboratory activities are framed within the context of community- relevant topics. In journalism, the “frame” is the organizing idea used to make sense of a topic. Like news stories, scientifi c data and practices have no intrinsic value until they are placed in a meaningful context. Only when the purpose and hypothesis are clarifi ed can an experiment be understood as part of a larger narrative that includes the method, supporting data, and most importantly, an in-terpretation. Th e community- focused aspect of the proposed eff ort is expected to resonate with American Indian students living in a rural environment due to their strong sense of kinship and place. Students will learn that they control the questions and that chemical procedures are a tool they can use to answer some of them. By framing each experiment, students will have the opportunity to engage in diff erentiated chemistry learning as de-scribed in a later section.

Th is project can be visualized as a cycle of four parts in which each part builds upon the previous one (Fig. 2), then builds by commu-nication from one step to the next, and then iteratively from year to year.

Community TopicsTh e fi rst of the four parts of the cycle is to en-gage local leaders and stakeholders (e.g., tribal and community leaders, college administra-

Consensus Advisory Committee noted that three eff ective practices were almost univer-sally common: (1) create hands- on, inquiry- based lessons refl ective of the local culture in their aboriginal homeland; (2) utilize the community as an integral resource in the de-velopment of curriculum as well as in instruc-tion; and (3) use the local native language to facilitate instruction and to understand the local native worldview.19

Sharing Cycle of Science Learning

Addressing the need for relevant science training is the long- term goal of the “Fram-ing the Chemistry Curriculum” project, a col-laborative eff ort between lptc, nicc, and the University of Nebraska– Lincoln (unl). Our project focuses on the students at Nebraska’s two tribal colleges but our long- range focus extends to other tribal colleges and universi-ties. Th is project is one of only fi ve funded by the National Science Foundation’s Research Infrastructure Improvement Program Track- 3 for “new evidence- based strategies and prac-tices, and institutional structure models for broadening participation in Science, Technol-ogy, Engineering and Mathematics (stem).” During a sixty- month period from summer 2013 to spring 2018, the project team will it-eratively develop and test a multi- institutional collaborative model to increase the number of underrepresented students participating in stem education. Th e project team will create a chemical pedagogy tailored to the unique needs of American Indian students attending Nebraska’s two tribal colleges by connecting science coursework to contemporary com-munity topics. For example, chemical experi-ments will begin with discussions on the ways in which the scientifi c measurements relate

136

Fig. 2. Th e Sharing Cycle of Science Learning (gouache on paper, 2014) by Laurie Houseman Whitehawk, whose tribal affi liations are Santee and Winnebago. Whitehawk created this painting to describe our project visually. Th e four aspects of the “Framing the Chemistry Curriculum” project are placed within a Medicine Wheel, where the circle is the cycle of life, the center is the individual, and the cross is community. All parts of the Medicine Wheel have multiple associations and refl ect upon the others. For instance, there are four directions, four stages of life, and four seasons. Th e upper left sector represents the Advisory Board managing the Community Topics, but it also represents the grant from the National Science Foundation in the form of Barack Obama handing an Erlenmeyer fl ask to an Indian woman who is giving a gift in return. Th e upper right sector represents the Case Studies group that fi nds the scientifi cally measurable parameters within the Community Topics. Th e lower right sector represents the instructor and students in the chemistry lecture and laboratory course. Th e lower left sector represents the faculty workshop and other sharing opportunities.


the Advisory Board because she is the state liaison to the four tribes of Nebraska: Oma-ha, Ponca, Santee Sioux, and Winnebago. Th e ncia helps to ensure that the sovereignties of tribal and state governments are mutually rec-ognized and acted upon in a true government- to- government relationship. Th e Commission also works to ensure that off - reservation Indi-an communities are aff orded the right to equi-table opportunities in the areas of education, housing, employment, healthcare, economic development, and human/civil rights. Th e Commission actively promotes and supports the development and implementation of lo-cal, state, and federal programs that provide equitable services and opportunities for Ne-braska’s Indian families and advises on other ways to strengthen the Sharing Cycle of Sci-ence Learning.

ncia staff serve as the project’s communi-ty facilitation consultant, providing strategic advice regarding the overall approach and helping to ensure timely, appropriate access to and information sharing with key native stakeholders. Specifi cally, ncia works with the project team to identify and recruit community members to serve on the lptc/nicc Joint Ad-visory Board. Th e Joint Advisory Board meets annually throughout the award period to share authoritative advice on strategic planning and to help ensure the cultural competency of the proposed chemical education activities.

At its inaugural meeting in 2014, the Advi-sory Board created the fi rst list of Community Topics (Table 1) that will serve as a founda-tion for the project. Th e list includes environ-mental, agricultural, and health topics that are readily connected to chemical laboratory experiences. Additional subjects such as oral histories and economic development provide topics for discussion or even research. Th e list

tors, etc.) to develop a list of relevant topics that will be used to frame chemical educa-tion. Our collaborative approach will bring together local communities, science faculty, and science students to implement and assess the project so we can ensure the process of change becomes embedded. Th is lptc/nicc Joint Advisory Committee will not only cre-ate a list of important community topics but will also initiate a dialog between commu-nity leaders and the tribal colleges. In other words, we will have produced and refi ned an innovative model for accomplishing two things: increase community engagement and communication among local organizations to increase participation of underrepresented in-dividuals in stem, and develop representative, comprehensive, and the best possible topics for our proposed curriculum model. For trib-al students, their knowledge is useful when it contributes to the community. Having these leaders involved in the identifi cation of topics is expected to increase the dialog between the communities and their colleges and to create an annual forum for leaders and stakeholders to determine which connections between the topics and science learning are most useful to the community.

Th e lptc/nicc Joint Advisory Board consists of tribal leaders, college adminis-trators, tribal liaisons to government offi ces, presidents of local public services, Nebraska Commission on Indian Aff airs (ncia) rep-resentatives, and others. Th e creation of this board demonstrates the strong partnership between these leaders and the academic in-stitutions. Th is board is critical to the success of the evaluation of this project because tribal leaders provide the long- term vision to sus-tain native communities.20

Th e ncia director is a critical member of


can be used by several disciplines at the tribal colleges. By using the case studies, the outcome should be improved attitudes toward chemistry and, therefore, improved retention.

During the fi rst academic off ering in 2014– 15, each laboratory experience was preced-ed by a brief discussion about which specifi c community topics were related to the exper-iment at hand. Th e students enjoyed the dis-cussion but they were not tested formally on this part of the experience. At the fi rst year’s faculty workshop in summer 2014, it was de-cided to add the full list of community topics and some case study material to the lab man-ual so that students could read in advance of the discussion and have something to elabo-rate upon in the justifi cation sections in their lab reports.

Th e Fall 2015 lab manual included the list of community topics and several one- page mini– case studies. Th e fi rst case study is titled “Wa-ter Quality,” and it notes that eighty Nebraska communities have well water containing arse-nic and/or uranium levels that exceed federal government standards. Th is case study relates to “Experiment 3a: Water Quality Testing,” which involves the qualitative analysis of ten common ions and the measurement of water pH and conductivity. Students are encouraged to bring their own water samples to test. In “Experiment 3b: Water Purifi cation,” students construct a water purifi cation unit using peb-bles, coarse sand, fi ne sand, and other mate-rials. Students are provided with some foul water to test.

Th e second case study is titled “Soil Quali-ty,” and it notes that plants obtain most of their nutrients from the soil. Th e plant has major needs for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassi-um. Th e nitrogen can be provided by decaying organic matter, manure, urine, or fertilizers.

shows there are many community functions where science and math are needed.

Table 1. Community Topics (with subtopics in parentheses).

Air Quality

Animal Habitat

Biopiracy

Climate Change (Trends, Historical Knowledge, Ecosystems)

Community Health (Genetics, gmos, Food Sources)

Disease

Economic Development Issues (Trust Lands, Environmental Racism)

Medicinal Plants (will not be used for experimentation without tribal council permission)

Natural Resources (Soil, Land)

Oral Histories (will not be published without tribal council permission)

Ownership/Stewardship

Renewable Energy (Solar, Wind, Compressed Wood Pellets)

Waste (Solids, Landfi lls, Hazardous)

Water Sources (Natural Disasters, Remediation Programs, Metals, Testing, Policy, Watersheds)

Case StudiesTh e second part of the cycle is for tribal col-lege faculty and students to link the commu-nity topics to specifi c science disciplines, to identify measurable parameters for use in the laboratory experiences, and to create a series of case studies. In the fi rst two years of the proj-ect, we will focus on the topics that are easiest to connect to chemistry lab experiences. Our goal, however, is to develop case studies that


derlying chemistry. Although these topics are of great interest to native communities, such courses are designed to enhance a citizen’s un-derstanding of the relationship between sci-ence and the broader consumer culture. We decided this approach was not as well aligned with our purpose. Our goal at both colleges will be to consistently exceed the enrollment minimum of six students, a number that both colleges consider sustainable. It should be possible to achieve such an enrollment be-cause each school has a signifi cant number of students who earn associate’s degrees related to environmental science and health science. Th e foundation for both these foci are rich in chemistry, indicating that these students would benefi t from chemistry instruction ma-terials tailored to their interests.

Among the manifold reasons for low en-rollments in the chemistry courses at these colleges are the modest number of students at-tending the college, irregular scheduling, and the lack of an instructor who could focus on the preparation of an entire set of laboratory experiments. Th is project will focus on devel-oping the laboratory experience because it has the greatest opportunity to generate enthusi-asm for chemical instruction. Th e combined lab rooms at the nicc campus can accommo-date twenty students. Th e instructor teaches from one campus and then teleconferences the lecture to assistants and students who are present at the remote campuses. At lptc, the single laboratory room comfortably accom-modates ten students. Finally, to enhance the likelihood of transfer to a four- year college, another goal is to develop a chemistry curric-ulum that is equivalent to those at four- year colleges and universities. Th e case studies will be used to bring relevance to both the lecture and the laboratory components (Fig. 3). Th e

Soil pH plays a major role in ion availability to the plant, is determined by the soil compo-sition, and can be adjusted using a base such as powdered limestone. Th is case relates to “Experiment 6: Soil Quantitative Analysis,” which involves the measurement of nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, pH, and conductivity. Students are encouraged to bring their own samples of soil to test.

Th e third case study is about liquid, or compressed, gases, which are used as heating fuels in many homes located in rural areas. Th is relates to “Experiment 7: Molar Mass of Butane” in which the gas emitted by butane lighters is analyzed to determine one of its fundamental physical properties.

Chemistry Course SequenceTh e third part of the cycle is to develop a two- semester chemistry sequence at nicc in which the chemistry lecture and laboratory experi-ence are integrated. Each laboratory experience will begin with a brief discussion about the knowledge that the students bring to the top-ic and the relevant community topics. Several experiences are designed so that students learn a procedure or method and then analyze mate-rials or the method in ways that are related to the case studies. Th e student outcome should be greater confi dence in the ability to use scien-tifi c tools to address community topics.

We decided to create a two- semester gob course (general chemistry in the fall semester and organic and biochemistry in the spring semester) because its focus on fundamental knowledge aligns itself with health science and environmental science majors. Th e other option was to create a liberal arts chemistry course in which high- profi le topics such as ozone depletion and water pollution are used to drive student interest in learning the un-


build on these materials. Th e experience will cause them to think about chemistry as some-thing in their lives and not just in textbooks.

Chemistry Laboratory ExperienceIntegrated instruction connects the labora-tory experience to other learning activities such as lectures, reading, and discussion.21 To learn how to think critically, students must frame the research question, design the ex-periment, make observations, analyze data, and construct scientifi c arguments. Th e au-thors of America’s Lab Report conclude with four principles of instructional design to help laboratory experiences achieve their learning goals: (1) design with clear learning outcomes in mind; (2) thoughtfully arrange with the fl ow of classroom instruction; (3) integrate

laboratory experiences are developed and taught by a lab instructor who is funded by the grant and chosen from among students in the graduate program of unl’s Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education. Th e lecture instructor for the fi rst few years is Janyce Woodard from lptc. Th e lab and lec-ture instructors will integrate student learning of the case studies, lecture examples, and labo-ratory experiences.

Th e list of community topics, references, and connections to specifi c laboratory experiences will be posted on the Internet as they evolve during the project (http://chemweb.unl.edu/griep/chem-education-research/). Th is should increase the project’s visibility among partic-ipants and nonparticipants alike. Students taking the course in subsequent semesters will

Case Studies

Lectures &Classroom

Discussions

LaboratoryExperiences

relevance relevance

integration

Fig. 3. Th e case studies provide relevance to the material presented in the classroom and the experiences in the laboratory. Th e lectures and laboratory experiences use the same set of case studies to guide development of learning materials. Students also integrate learning by discussing the case studies in the classroom to make connections to the laboratory experiences.


in advance, they will occasionally confront data that are not accurate or precise enough to interpret in light of the hypothesis based on insuffi cient alteration of the experimental pro-tocol. Such a learning moment can only pres-ent itself to students who are intent to learn the answer.

Many laboratory modules will consist of a training component followed by an inquiry component. Students will carry out the train-ing component until they have mastered the technique. It is essentially a mini- lab- practical. Students will use the community topics and case studies to choose materials to measure during the inquiry component. Th ey will de-sign, measure, and analyze their results and then write a lab report. Chemistry promotes numeracy because it was founded on the principle of balanced reactions and is among the most quantitative sciences; chemists deal with material that has mass and volume. In the context of our students who are interest-ed in environmental science and health sci-ence, chemistry laboratory experiences will be able to focus on analytical measurements. Th is means an emphasis on experimental skills that are quantifi able for accuracy (Is the value obtained correct?) and precision (Is the measurement reproducible with low error?). Th erefore, students will learn how to use Mic-rosoft Excel to tabulate data, analyze it for best fi t to model equations, and create graphs for communicating data.

Th e Fall 2015 lab manual included many ex-periences in which local materials and the na-tive language were used (Table 2). In “Experi-ment 1: Density,” students measure the density of various dried beans and seeds, including commercial popcorn and colorful kernels of Indian corn. In “Experiment 3a: Water Qual-ity,” it was noted above that students were en-

learning science content with learning about the process of science; and (4) incorporate ongoing student refl ection and discussion.22 Th e proposed case study method provides a framework for the instructors to easily incor-porate these principles.

At the onset of this project, Nebraska’s two tribal colleges varied signifi cantly in their labs and equipment. Both colleges had renovated their lab rooms within the past six years but lptc had the apparatus and equipment to of-fer a basic set of chemistry labs, which they have been doing continuously. nicc had not off ered a chemistry course in recent years and did not have the chemicals or apparatus nec-essary to run their own labs. Th erefore, the project included plans to overcome defi cien-cies in their materials, and we developed new chemical safety protocols for both colleges.

Th e common goal of all chemistry labo-ratory experiences is to learn techniques and use equipment.23 Goals of the best laboratory experiences do not simply verify established scientifi c knowledge but instead engage stu-dents in formulating questions, designing investigations, and creating and revising ex-planatory models.24 Th e learning goals for each laboratory experience must be clearly stated and should cover the entire spectrum: enhance mastery of the subject matter; de-velop scientifi c reasoning; understand the complexity and ambiguity of empirical work; develop practical skills; understand the nature of science; cultivate interest in science and in learning science; and develop teamwork skills. Of all these goals, the authors of America’s Lab Report noted that “understand[ing] the com-plexity and ambiguity of empirical work” can only be obtained through laboratory expe-rience.25 When students analyze materials or alter methods in ways that haven’t been vetted


pact of the change. Th e success of a change is gauged by monitoring the transition through seven levels from nonuse to use.

OutreachGiven the low chemistry course enrollment at the two tribal colleges, recruitment will be an important component of this project. At each event, we will off er one or more of the follow-ing: chemistry students talking about their coursework, chemistry students and instruc-tors performing chemical demonstrations, and informative brochures. We will pass out promotional items with the name of the tribal colleges to help people remember the experi-ence. Th e two colleges currently draw most of their students from seven k– 12 public schools in the area. Classroom presentations can be made during a classroom period to grades 7– 12 or during one of the school’s Family Nights or Science Nights to reach even wider audi-ences. We can reach a large portion of these communities at the summer powwows in Macy, Santee, Walthill, and Winnebago. Each powwow has a health fair tent where we could let citizens know about our interest in the en-vironment, water, and food.

Enrollment CampaignTo recruit students, our program provides 80 percent of student tuition to the fi rst six-ty students who take the chemistry courses (thirty nicc students and thirty lptc stu-dents). Th is should help us meet our goal of more than six students enrolled in chemistry at both colleges by the fourth year of the pro-gram. Students will pay the fi rst 20 percent of tuition and any fees to ensure their com-mitment to completing the course. When this tuition program ends, we will be able to determine the long- term sustainability of the

couraged to bring their own water samples to test. In “Experiment 5: Absorption Spectros-copy,” students learn how to extract pigments from organic matter, measure the absorption spectrum of the extract, and then compare the spectra to samples of known chemical compo-sition. Th e organic matter included local food items such as chokecherries, wild plums, and black walnut casings (Table 3). In “Experiment 6: Soil Quality,” it was noted above that stu-dents were encouraged to bring their own soil samples to test. Th ere are similar connections between local materials and the native lan-guage during the spring semester.

DisseminationTh e fourth part of the cycle is to disseminate the method locally and regionally through workshops, outreach, and recruitment. Every summer, we will hold a two- day faculty train-ing workshop for tribal college faculty mem-bers. Th e workshop will include an overview of the project’s outcomes, an open discussion, brainstorming sessions on the most eff ective ways to use the case studies, and a review of additional funding opportunities. Th e out-come will be the dissemination of culturally relevant laboratory experiences from chem-istry to other science courses at participating colleges. Th e fi rst year’s workshop participants will be limited to faculty from nicc and lptc. In subsequent years, we will encourage faculty from regional tribal colleges to attend and will off er them a travel stipend. Th e workshops are designed on the change- based adoption model of Hall and Hord, which treats change as a process, not an event.26 In essence, facul-ty move through three stages of concern: how will the change aff ect them, what is the nature of the new task, and fi nally, a focus on the im-

143

Table 2. Traditional food plants used by Nebraska’s Missouri River tribes.

English Scientifi c Ho- Chunk Lakota Omaha and Ponca

Bean Phaseolus vulgaris Honink Wanahcha Maka- skithe

Black walnut Juglans nigra Chak Hma Tdagë

Cattail Typha latifolia Ksho- hin Wihuta- hu Wahábigaskonthe

Chokecherry Padus nana Chanpa Nanpa- zhinga

Corn Zea mays Wa Wamnáheza Wahába

Gooseberry Grossularia missouriensis

Haz- ponoponoh Wichandeshka Pezi

Mint Mentha canadensis Chiaka Pezhe- nubthon

Pumpkin, squash Pepo pepo Wagamun Niashiga- makan

Watermelon Citrullus citrullus Qaka- thidë Saka- yutapi

Wild plum Prunus americana Kantsh Kante Kande

Wild strawberry Fragaria virginiana Haz- shchek Wazhushtecha Bashtë

Note: Th ese entries were assembled from Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region by Melvin R. Gilmore, originally published in 1914 (fi rst enlarged edition, University of Nebraska Press, 1991). “In former times the plants cultivated by the tribes inhabiting the region which has become the State of Nebraska comprised maize, beans, squashes, pumpkins, gourds, watermelons, and tobacco.” “Of maize, they grew all the general types: dent corn, fl int corn, fl our corn, sweet corn, and pop corn, each of these in several varieties. Of beans, they had 15 or more varieties, and at least 8 varieties of pumpkins and squashes.”

Table 3. Traditional plants used for dyeing and staining by Nebraska’s Missouri River tribes.

English Color Scientifi c Ho- Chunk Lakota Omaha and Ponca

Black walnut Black Juglans nigra Chak Hma Tdagë

Bloodroot Red Sanguinaria canadensis

Peh- hishuji Minigathe makan waü

Cottonwood buds

Yellow Populus sargentii Waga- chan Maa- zhon

Dodder Orange Cuscuta glomerata Makan- chahiwicho

Lamb’s quarters Green Chenopodium album

Wahpe toto

Lichens Yellow Usnea barbata Chan- wiziye

Smooth sumac Yellow Rhus glabra Haz- ni- hu Chan- zi Minbdi- hi

Soft maple twigs Black Acer saccharinum Wissep- hu Tahado Wenu- shabethe- hi

Note: Th ese entries were assembled from Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region, by Melvin R. Gilmore, originally published in 1914 (fi rst enlarged edition, University of Nebraska Press, 1991). Cuscuta glomerata is incorrectly listed as Cuscuta lagenaria in Gilmore’s text.


student learning and deepen existing student knowledge in stem fi elds. Th e resulting ma-terials and practices will be applicable to all educators seeking to increase participation of underrepresented stem groups. Th e Sharing Cycle of Science Learning should also lead to greater involvement of the community in tribal college aff airs and greater outreach of the college in k– 12 education, both of which should increase the number of students at-tending the tribal college. Th e iterative nature of this project should lead to identifi cation of measurements of interest to the communi-ty, providing the faculty with justifi cation for developing more laboratory experiences that will result in cutting- edge educational instruc-tion linked to community values.

Acknowledgments

Th is research was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant iia- 1348382), the University of Nebraska– Lincoln Offi ce of Re-search and Economic Development, and Ne-braska epscor. We acknowledge assistance from Wyatt Th omas, Native American Studies Head at Nebraska Indian Community College, for ensuring the accuracy of Tables 2 and 3.

Notes 1. US Census Bureau, “Nebraska Quick Facts,” Washington dc, 2012, www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/pst045214/31,00. 2. National Science Board, “Science and Engineer-ing Indicators 2012,” Washington dc, 2012, www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c3/c3h.htm. 3. Donna J. Nelson and Christopher N. Bram-mer, A National Analysis of Minorities in Science and Engineering Faculties at Research Universities, 2nd ed. (Norman: University of Oklahoma, 2010). 4. National Science Board, “Science and Engi-neering Indicators 2012.”

program by how many enroll during the fi ft h year of the program.

We will work with the administrators of lptc and nicc to launch a “We Want You Back” campaign. Th e campaign will involve email, phone calls, and presentations at the powwows. If we could attract even a small portion of the 24 percent of Nebraska adults who have attended some college but did not earn a degree, we will create sustainable en-rollments in the tribal college chemistry se-quences.27 We will describe the arguments made in this proposal about the need to use science as a tool to manage tribal aff airs and how the students at Nebraska’s tribal colleges are learning to connect community topics with science methods in a way that is cutting edge not only within the Indian community but anywhere. Aft er describing the new cur-riculum, the contact will be asked whether he/she is encouraged to enroll. If not, the contact will be asked what else could be done to en-courage them to enroll. Th e list of responses will be used to identify the relative impor-tance of the various hurdles. Th e list can also be used by the tribal colleges to develop fur-ther recruitment strategies. We will assess this subaim by tracking the number of contacts and the number of recruits.

Summary

Th is Sharing Cycle of Science Learning proj-ect will enhance current stem education practices at tribal colleges by developing a sustainable cycle that involves community en-gagement. Students will learn how to connect community topics to curricular materials by way of a partnership that involves commu-nity leaders, college faculty, college students, and community outreach. Th is will facilitate


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5. Russell Barsh, “Sovereignty,” in Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians, ed. David J. Wishart (Lin-coln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007); American Indian Higher Education Consortium (aihec), “Creating Role Models for Change: A Survey of Trib-al College Graduates,” Tribal College Research and Database Initiative Research Report, 2000; Tiff any S. Lee, “Successes and Challenges in Higher Education Transitions,” Tribal College Journal 19 (2007): 30– 36. 6. Charles A. Braithwaite, “Tribal Colleges,” in Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians, ed. David J. Wishart (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007); Cheryl Crazy Bull, “Journey to Freedom: Refl ecting on Our Responsibilities, Renewing Our Promises,” Tribal College Journal 24 (2012): 13– 15. 7. Crazy Bull, “Journey to Freedom.” 8. David M. Davison; and Kenneth W. Miller, “An Ethnoscience Approach to Curriculum Topics for American Indian Students,” School Science and Mathematics 98 (1998): 260– 65; Gregory A. Cajete and Leroy Little Bear, Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence (Santa Fe: Clear Light, 1999). 9. National Congress of American Indians, “Tribal Governance,” Washington dc, www.ncai.org/policy- issues/tribal- governance. 10. James A. Banks, Kathryn H. Au, Arethra F. Ball, Philip Bell, Edmund W. Gordon, Kris D. Gutiér-rez, Shirley B. Heath, Carol D. Lee, Yuhshi Lee, Jabari Mahiri, Na’ilah S. Nasir, Guadalupe Valdes, and Min Zhou, Learning In and Out of School in Diverse Environments (Seattle: Th e life Center, University of Washington, 2007). 11. Clyde Freeman Herreid, Start with a Story: Th e Case Study Method of Teaching College Science (Arlington va: nsta Press, 2007); National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, Case Collection, Buff alo ny, University at Buff alo (sciencecases.lib.buff alo.edu/cs/collection/). 12. Barbara Leigh Smith, Linda Moon Stumpff , and Robert Cole, “Engaging Students from Under-represented Populations: Th e Enduring Legacies Na-tive Case Studies Initiative,” Journal of College Science Teaching 41 (2012): 60– 68; Barbara Leigh Smith and Linda Moon Stumpff , “Exploring Tribal Sovereignty Th rough Native Case Studies,” Indigenous Policy Journal 25 (2014): online article 278/271. 13. David A. Gruenewald, “Th e Best of Both Worlds: A Critical Pedagogy of Place,” Educational Researcher 32 (2003): 3– 12.


Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory,” Journal of Chemical Education 90 (2013): 281– 86. 24. Singer, Hilton, and Schweingruber, America’s Lab Report. 25. Gene E. Hall and Shirley M. Hord, Implement-ing Change: Patterns, Principles, and Potholes, 3rd ed. (Pearson Higher Education, 2011). 26. Hall and Hord, Implementing Change. 27. US Census Bureau, “Selected Social Charac-teristics in the United States, 2007– 2011 American Community Survey 5- Year Estimates,” Washington dc, 2012, factfi nder.census.gov/faces/tableservices.

Lowery Bretz, “Faculty Perspectives of Undergrad-uate Chemistry Laboratory: Goals and Obstacles to Success,” Journal of Chemical Education 87 (2010): 1416– 24. 22. Susan R. Singer, Margaret L. Hilton, and Heidi A. Schweingruber, America’s Lab Report: Investiga-tions in High School Science (Washington dc: Nation-al Academies Press, 2005). 23. Stacey Lowery Bretz, Michael Fay, Laura B. Bruck, and Marcy H. Towns, “What Faculty Interviews Reveal about Meaningful Learning in the

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