Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science

I recently finished the beautifully written and thought-provoking Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by botany professor and citizen of the Potawatomi Nation Robin Kimmerer. I highly recommend adding it to your summer reading list.

You know how it is. When you learn something new, you begin seeing evidence of it everywhere. Maybe that's why I took notice of this article in the Smithsonian Magazine, "When Scientists “Discover” What Indigenous People Have Known For Centuries." 

I recently learned that OPI's Indian Education Division is working on a comprehensive new science curriculum, and I now await it more eagerly than ever.

While we wait, it's worth checking out some of these resources:

• Human Impacts on the Environment Fire on the Land - Grades 7-8
  • DVD for this was sent to public school libraries
• Montana Skies: Blackfeet Astronomy Teachers Guide (Grades 3-8)
  • Montana Skies: Blackfeet Astronomy Videos
• Montana Skies: Crow Astronomy Teachers Guide (Grades 3-8)
• Montana Skies: Crow Astronomy Videos
• Explore the River