ED11B-3401:
Preserving Our Homeland: A Collaboration to Connect Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge for Mashpee Wampanoag Youth
Monday, 15 December 2014
Benjamin Gutierrez1, Monique Fordham2, Renee Lopes-Pocknett3, Kristen Wyman4, Christina Stringer5, George Green6, Quan Tobey6, James Rassman7 and Earl Mills Jr.8, (1)U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA, United States, (2)US Geological Survey, Reston, VA, United States, (3)Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Education Department, Mashpee, MA, United States, (4)Freshwater Consulting Inc., Weymouth, MA, United States, (5)U.S. Forest Service, Cordesville, SC, United States, (6)Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Natural Resources Department, Mashpee, MA, United States, (7)Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Waquoit, MA, United States, (8)Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Mashpee, MA, United States
Abstract:
Over the past three years, we have developed and implemented a collaborative summer science program for Mashpee Wampanoag youth that engages tribal elders, parents, educators, and local scientists to connect tribal youth with the ecology and geology of their traditional homelands. This collaboration, called Native Youth in Science: Preserving our Homeland (POH), involves the Mashpee Wampanoag Education and Natural Resource Departments, an experienced team of tribal elders and scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, U.S. Forest Service, and NOAA National Marine Fisheries. The team has developed and implemented a curriculum that stresses the ancestral relationships of Wampanoag people to their land. Through hands-on activities at locations of cultural significance, our efforts focus on presenting topics in environmental science from both western science and Wampanoag perspectives to 5th-8th grade students from the Wampanoag Tribe. Overarching themes focus on local land use history and its impact on traditional food sources such as shellfish and herring. Lessons typically address hydrology, water quality, fish and shellfish biology, botany, and local geology. To present these topics, scientists are paired with Wampanoag Tribe culture keepers to develop lessons that present science topics side-by-side with cultural knowledge. The primary goals of POH are to (a) connect and reinforce science concepts learned in conventional school settings for tribal youth; (b) demonstrate the use of science as a tool for understanding and preserving the ecosystems and homelands of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe; and (c) how indigenous traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and western science complement each other. In the long-term, this program begins to prepare tribal students for more advanced programs supporting their pursuit of higher education.
