RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENHANCING PLACE-BASED LEARNING WITH CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE SCHOOLING AND ANTI-RACISM FRAMEWORKS IN GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE STUDENTS (Invited Presentation)

As the geoscience community continues to address centuries of harm to, and erasure of Indigenous communities, educators have new interest in “decolonizing” their curriculum, increasing their broader impact portfolios, reaching out to Indigenous communities in their area, and recruiting American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) students into the geosciences. Place-based learning is an accessible on-ramp for curriculum builders and educators looking to recruit and retain AIAN students. However, it is essential that well-meaning researchers and educators avoid potential pitfalls which can lead to harm, most notably lack of relationships with Tribal communities and culture, which can help bridge over historic distrust, avoid appropriation, and ensure maintenance of data sovereignty.

We present a systematic review of publications about AIAN educational initiatives to identify areas which need improvement or further research. Our evaluation examines program implementation, its approach (i.e. if the program used AIAN ways of learning and knowing, or taught AIAN concepts in a western education framework) and if or how the program was evaluated. In building this review, we hope to highlight recommendations for future initiatives. Specifically needed are culturally responsive programs that explicitly center AIAN epistemology, sovereignty, and identity and address the racism students encounter.

Preliminarily, the Geoscience Education community tends to validate cultural connections to space and time, rootedness in place, land as a relation (e.g. Bang and Medin, 2010). We attribute this to the prevalence of place-based approaches within the Geosciences. Overall, recent initiatives, especially those led by AIAIN scientists and faculty, avoid many potential pitfalls. However, most initiatives do not mention or have policies that address the racism or bias that students may encounter; program elements which can improve culturally responsive place-based geoscience education.