Indigenous communities across Minnesota have a long history of engagement with environmental conservation and sustainability, yet much of the science that traditionally informs Minnesota's approach to water conservation does not include Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. To ensure an environmentally literate society that is equipped to protect Minnesota’s waters, we are implementing educational resources and opportunities that are diverse, equitable, inclusive, just, and help learners make informed choices that support sustainable natural resource management. In partnership with Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota, we are uniting multidisciplinary scientists with teachers and students to promote environmental literacy and intercultural understanding.
Supporting Minnesota Teachers
In Minnesota's State Science Standards, students are expected to meet a number of new benchmarks related to Minnesota Tribes & communities. While this integration into the standards represents a significant step forward in ensuring that traditional knowledge and Indigenous ways of knowing are reflected in the teaching of Science for Minnesota youth, we recognize that it is important to support teachers to instruct their students on these topics.
We're offering the events below to provide culturally responsive teacher workshops that bridge the preparation gap for teachers as they address the new Minnesota State Science standards with specific consideration of both Indigenous and Western perspectives. Additionally, we'll also pair our teacher workshops with supported delivery of classroom curriculum that exposes middle- and high-school students to water-based job opportunities and careers, particularly focusing on broadening representation of Indigenous youth pursuing natural resource management careers.
Professional learning community
Join our Professional Learning Community to share expertise and collaborate on bringing Indigenous science into the classroom.
Over the next year, we'll be exploring Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, a series that delves into our deep interconnections with the living world. The four Kinship volumes we'll cover are Place, Partners, Persons, and Practice, each offering essays, interviews, poetry, and stories of solidarity, highlighting the interdependence that exists between humans and nonhuman beings. We will use these volumes to ground our conversations and as a framework for building Indigenous science into classroom curriculum.
Upcoming professional development events
Birch Teachings and Basket Making
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13 from 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Registration is limited to 15 participants.
Resources for teachers
Check out these Resources for Teachers for more ways to bring Indigenous science into your classroom.
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The Trust Fund is a permanent fund constitutionally established by the citizens of Minnesota to assist in the protection, conservation, preservation, and enhancement of the state’s air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources.
This work is supported by a University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment Impact Goal grant, 2023-2026, titled “Delivering Culturally Integrated Sustainability Education Through Supported Teacher Professional Development.,” under Grant No. IG 72.