Hi George - Thank you so much for commenting! Our evaluators are taking a participatory mixed methods approach to looking for evidence that GEM has increased participants’ awareness, understanding, and appreciation of local ecological knowledge, as well as evidence of participants’ understanding of geo-literacy and its relevance to sustainability and daily decision-making. This is done through focus groups with ISLET members (conducted by GEM staff in local languages and translated into English for our evaluators) and photo voice interviews with youth ISLET members. Also, where ISLET-created products and events are public, we’re looking for evidence that the product/event is valued by the intended audience. This is done in the form of post-event feedback forms and observations.

Hi Stephen - Thank you for your comment and questions! GEM is taking an intergenerational approach to informal science learning, so we have ISLET members of all ages. Some of our ISLETs are primarily middle to high school students working alongside adult community members and informal/formal educators. We also have ISLETs that are primarily community knowledge holders, who tend to be older adults and elders. Over the course of the project, we’ve had opportunities for our youth participants in particular to present their learnings and experiences at local and regional conferences on education and sustainability. Regarding languages used in GEM, we were able to structure the project with community-based staff so that nearly all of our ISLET activities could be conducted in local languages. Results and feedback are then translated into English for sharing across staff, with project leads, and with our evaluators. Having such a multitude of languages in our project has given rise to many powerful conversations about the commonalities and differences in how we conceptualize and talk about our places and how our cultural values (i.e., respect) relate to geo-literacy.

Yes! It's incredible to see the transformation in youth as they are learning about familiar places in new ways and from their own elders. It's also so very exciting to see informal educators and classroom teachers access and deepen their own funds of knowledge and realize how valuable their cultural knowledge and skills are in their work as educators.

Hi Folashade - Thank you so much for your comment! A school that works to build from their students' funds of knowledge can really shift the conditions for learning in their classrooms. Students are more engaged and have access to the content in new ways -- and there are opportunities to talk about how content applies to their real lives, which is critical to geo-literacy.

We've also seen that when a school or school system supports approaches to engaging community funds of knowledge, it empowers our teachers. Our work happens in Indigenous communities where many of our educators are also community members. When these educators are empowered to bring in their own knowledge about language, environment, stories, cooking, fishing, weaving, as well as ways of communicating, their approach to teaching and engaging their students changes as well.

Several of us in GEM were part of an earlier project on climate change and we pulled together a practice brief on using funds of knowledge in Pacific island classrooms: http://pcep.prel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06...

Thanks, Dr. Low!

A lot of geo-literacy is learned by spending time with elders. GEM provided that space for students, teachers, and elders to come together. With the GEM program ending, we're continuing intergenerational learning by recruiting elders to supplement cultural curriculum (Pohnpei/Kosrae studies) in schools through indigenous learning recovery projects in Kosrae and Pohnpei. We hope to expand into the other FSM states and the region in the near future.

Thank you, Canita. I trust the involvement of elders and intergenerational learning is for both cultural and mainstream programs, including STEM. GEM has demonstrated important ways to strengthen learning using these deep, multi-perspective, multi-age interconnections. So appreciate that Kosrae and Pohnpei see the benefits from GEM and are creating ways to sustain its impact. Look forward to hearing more. Very exciting!

Hi Marylin! Thanks so much for your comments :) The Indigenous Learning Recovery project in FSM that Canita mentioned has been incredible -- they're bringing elders on campus and seeing student engagement really increase. In just the two years in Pohnpei and one year in Kosrae, the participating schools are seeing increases in attendance, especially among students that were/are struggling in other classes. And in RMI, the Public School System is still pushing ahead with place- and project-based learning nationwide. GEM has been part of supporting the out-of-school components of their efforts (like field trips and longer student voyages), as well as teacher PD in Majuro and outer islands. In conversations with ISLET members, especially with the younger members, it's inspiring to hear how their earlier interactions with GEM are shaping their decision-making in big and small ways.

Ráán allim Gerald. I'm glad to learn that you've been to Micronesia and had the privilege to teach and learn from our students and learn a little bit about our culture and people. Learning about the biggest concern from teachers in Hawaii about Micronesian students is not surprising. I wonder how many of them were willing to go out of their way to truly learn about these Micronesian students, their families, and cultures and help them grow to be the persons they can be.

Through GEM, our team learned so many valuable lessons, especially of the hidden connections between Western STEM and local/indigenous systems of learning (e.g., respect). It is this type of learning or realizations that shed light on the missing elements in our students learning - that what they are learning in a classroom somehow are not connected to what they bring from home. It is our role as educators to make those connections visible so our Micronesian students are not lost in the system but understand why they spend hours sitting in a 4-walled classroom learning about foreign concepts and how these foreign settings and concept relate to them and can either enhance or hinder their learning development.

Well said, Paulina. You are adding another important learning connection - relevance. This involves supporting learners in activating prior knowledge and connecting what they know to new information they are learning. It also means engaging learners in a variety of activities that helps them make real-world connections to what may initially seem to be foreign concepts. Language plays a key role in this learning, too, using both the language of school (teacher as expert) or the language of home (student as expert). GEM has also shown us the potential for enhancing learning in both informal and school settings (Micronesia and the mainland). How might we ensure learners continue to benefit from GEM's teachings?

There's been so much enthusiasm from community members and educators around the ISLET-created resources, especially seeing their own languages in print with content that reflects what's important to know if you're going to live and thrive in these communities. We've also had opportunities to think and experiment with different types of learning resources and found that posters are easy and accessible -- both for creators and for users. Signs are also great at getting conversations going -- like signs with traditional place names are helping people re/learn the names and stories of the community. And there's a growing interest in games, particularly apps for younger users.