INDIGENIZING GEOSCIENCE CURRICULA AT LEECH LAKE TRIBAL COLLEGE

Earth Science curricula were developed and introduced in 2016 at Leech Lake Tribal College (LLTC), a small, 2-year degree granting institution located in northern Minnesota. The demographics at LLTC are similar to other Tribal institutions, where 90% of students are American Indian with an average age of 28 years. As part of a larger NSF-supported project to provide a pathway for LLTC students to the University of Minnesota Duluth, Indigenizing curricula and providing place-based science education has proven to increase student interest and engagement.

Through a community based and student led process, the courses in geology, water resources, and environmental science have since integrated Anishinaabe culture, knowledge, language and values. Culture is often introduced by students within the classroom, and is acknowledged in the rubric for grading essays and papers. Often, student topic choices and perspectives reflect their learned knowledge from family and elders. This traditional knowledge often enhances student understanding of technical data provided by LLTC’s meteorological and hydrological sensor systems. Language integration occurs across the curriculum, though can be challenging in more technical subject areas, but as faculty and students are learning together the challenge becomes a mutual interest. Values of the Seven Grandfather Teachings are instilled in subject choices, experimental design, and classroom interactions. This is an incremental and reiterative effort to attract, retain, and graduate Native American students in geoscience related fields of study.