Page 476 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

37 Indigenous Stories: Knowledge Is Sometimes Where You Least Expect to Find It 451

Reservation are allowed to learn their lessons in life by exploring and experiencing
their environment; this contrasts starkly with the educational experience of non-
reservation youth. Many children living on the reservation spend a great deal of
time outdoors in activities such as swimming or hunting. Many families eat venison
and other wildlife game as a regular part of their diet. Parents regularly take their
children camping to gather berries and roots or to cut fire wood for the winter.
Children might also help their families pick ginseng to sell to supplement the family
income. In the process, children might learn that when picking ginseng, it is impor-
tant not to pull the root out of the ground so that it will come back in the spring.
Unsworth (2008, p. 3) was concerned about cultural variation in cognitive and
developmental psychology. She also wanted to know how changes in culturally
based education practices could increase opportunities for children to use their “own
valuable cultural knowledge and frameworks to connect to new material” (p 3). She
noted that earlier research had shown that Menominee individuals were more likely
to think of humans as a part of nature and to think about ecological relations in
nature. For example, she learned that “rural Menominee Native Americans have
more psychologically close orientations toward nature” (p. 4). She concluded that
both verbal and nonverbal discourse practices (hand gestures) play an important role
in the learning of psychologically close orientations toward nature. She noted impli-
cations of the research for the “development of culturally based science education
programs in relation to language, culture, and cognition” (p 4).
Unsworth (2008) pointed out that, according to statistics from standardized testing,
Menominee children were successful in science at grade 4 and sometimes superior
on their test scores in relation to non-Native students. However, by grade 8,
Menominee students were scoring below the national average. Unsworth attributes
this underachievement to changes in the formal educational setting and not in the
students themselves. She surmised that the teachers in the lower grades on the
reservation were more attuned to the ways of the reservation and nature and used
this knowledge in their teaching, or that the science curriculum changes in ways
that have more of an influence on older Native children.
Her assertions are reflected in what occurs at Menominee Tribal School (MTS).
The students at MTS, which is the more traditional school on the reservation, practice
Menominee traditions and culture in many ways. For example, eighth grade students
gather wild rice from the lakes during the fall. They travel in canoes and go through
the whole process of harvesting and winnowing the rice. The activity is incorporated
into their science, social studies, language arts, and computer classes. Another
example of how both teachers and students are attuned to nature on the reservation
is maple sugar camp. All the students and grade levels participate in the maple sugar
camp. Maple sugar was a staple in the Menominee diet years ago and the Tribe does
not want the tradition lost. Older children are allowed to participate in the entire
process while younger children participate in only parts of the process. This activity
is also a part of the science, language arts, and social studies curriculum.
Unsworth (2008) also discussed the ways in which Menominee people tell stories
about nature and animals. The Menominee clan system is based on animals and the
clans all have stories and mythology connected to them. Unsworth observed that
Menominee elders tell stories designed to teach listeners tribal values and a respect