# Presentation: 497677

## Bringing 

- Bringing
- Inupiat Traditional Knowledge
- Into The Classroom

## Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative is working to integrate the indigenous community and culture into the education system.

- Benefits already seen include:
-   Increase in student achievement scores
-   Decrease in dropout rates
-   Increase in number of students attending college
-   Increase in number of students in fields of science and math

## Program Success Includes:

-   Giving community a strong role in implementation and design.
-   Organized around contemporary rural Alaska life.
-   Project centered, community-based approach.
- Maintain flexibility!

## Education

- Educators

- Community

- Contemporary life issues

- Native knowledge

- Western knowledge

- Local culture/history

- Elders

## Elder and Community Participation

-   Positive identity and increased self esteem of students.
-   Improved relationship between school and community.
-   Increased orientation of teachers in the school and community.

## Photo courtesy of IHLC, Barrow, AK

## Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

- TEK is a cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief based on observation and experience and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationships of living beings with one another and with their environment.

## “Inupiat Weather Expertise”

- A lesson with up to three activities which incorporates science, language arts, and public speaking.

- Activity 1:  An elder speaks to your class about their local weather/climate change knowledge.

## Elder Arnold Brower of Barrow

**Elder Arnold Brower of Barrow**

- Changes in climate have affected local plants.

## Elder Sadie Neakok of Barrow

- Climate change has affected when freeze up happens each year.

## Elder George Leavitt of Barrow

- Changes in climate have affected permafrost and frequency of storms which has increased erosion.

## Have Your Class Document Local Elder Knowledge

-   Website
-   Poster
-   Booklet
-   Video

- Photo courtesy of IHLC, Barrow, AK

## “Inupiat Weather Expertise”

- A lesson with up to three activities which incorporates science, language arts, and public speaking.

- Activity 1:  An elder speaks to your class about their local weather/climate change knowledge.

- Activity 2:  Students use traditional methods to observe weather patterns and keep a daily weather journal.

## www.nomeschools.com/~balvanna

- <date/time>

**Traditional Weather Predicting**
- Webpage created by Bernadette Alvanna-Stimpfle of Nome:

## “Inupiat Weather Expertise”

- A lesson with up to three activities which incorporates science, language arts, and public speaking.

- Activity 1:  An elder speaks to your class about their local weather/climate change knowledge.

- Activity 2:  Students use traditional methods to observe weather patterns and keep a daily weather journal.

- Activity 3:   Students act as local forecasters and present a weather report in Inupiaq to the class.

## Activity 3:  Inupiat Weather Report

- Watch local TV and newspaper weather reports.
- Prepare short weather report to give to class.
- Create weather map on posterboard.
- Rewrite script in Inupiat language.
- Invite elders to classroom to listen to weather reports.

## Elders

- Community

- School

-   Inupiat language and culture
-   Understanding of environment
-   Knowledge of climate/weather

- They can share their:

- are a great link between