In this 'camp,' it's the teachers who learn science
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
BLUE BAY — Making hand drums from deer hide, playing stick game and coaxing a fire out of tinder without matches all sound like fun skills to learn at camp.
But there’s a twist. The campers were adults, K-8 teachers actually. Their camp was a three-day Culture Camp put on by Big Sky Science Partnership and held from Aug. 2 to Aug. 4.
The Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille tribal communities, as well as folks from Fort Peck, Fort Belknap and Anacortes, Wash., sent 17 Elders and 18 tribal consultants as instructors in cultural competency and activities. The idea was for the 31 elementary science teachers to learn hands-on indigenous science they could integrate into their home school curriculums while they became culturally competent.
The teachers also learned about setting up a teepee, making miniature cradleboards, miniature moccasins, stick game sets, drums, drum sticks, dolls Tule teepees, beading, cutting and drying three deer, flint knapping and Salish and Kootenai language lessons.
But it’s not always sun, swimming and stick game tournaments at Blue Bay. Teachers volunteer for the three-year program that meets all year and includes a two-week summer class as well as the Culture Camp.
Lee Coble teaches science at Polson Middle School.
“I see a lot of benefits from BSSP,” Coble said. “Culture Camp has made me more aware (of tribal culture).”
In addition Coble said the camp builds continuity with the tribal community and makes ties to the classroom.
Coble also said he sees lots of “stuff made at Culture Camp displayed in the schools,” such as stick game sets and drums.
“It (the displays) builds culture in the classroom,” Coble said as well as providing common ground with students.
On a more concrete level, Coble helped develop an atlatl, or Native American throwing stick, activity with other teachers in his group. Coble said BSSP has strengthened the connection among teachers on the reservation, from Polson to Charlo to Arlee to Two Eagle River School.
The National Science Foundation funds the Big Sky Science Partnership. BSSP’s overarching goal is to improve American Indian student achievement in science, according to Regina Sievert, BSSP Director.
“American Indians are severely underrepresented in science programs and in the scientific fields,” Sievert said.
BSSP affects 90 teachers across Montana and, through them, countless students. Three pieces interlock to form BSSP – the college/university piece, the tribal community and the teachers. The tribal communities teach culturally relevant topics, local issues and indigenous science. The colleges and universities teach western science and education, and the teachers teach issues and culture in the individual schools.
Montana State University-Billings works with 30 teachers on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations, and the University of Montana handles 30 teachers in Missoula. Salish Kootenai College works with 30 teachers from Flathead Reservation schools and is the only tribal college taking the lead in BSSP Sievert added.
Sievert said the group of educators gathered at Blue Bay really wanted to learn and were so motivated and so bonded “to the common vision of improving science education.”
There was close to a 1:1 ratio between tribal community members and teachers. Camp hours were from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sievert said, but after that the campers would gather and listen to the Elders stories. Tribal members cooked special foods, too, such as bannock bread and sarvisberry stew.
After school starts, class members teach professional development, develop curriculum and work at the state level as well as presenting the program at conferences in Philadelphia and Portland.
“BSSP teachers just don’t keep all these wonderful things to themselves,” Sievert said, smiling.
