1. Breanne Litts
  2. https://learnexploredesign.org/
  3. Assistant Professor
  4. Daigwade
  5. https://www.daigwade.org/
  6. Utah State University
  1. Alicia Martinez
  2. Graduate Research Assistant
  3. Daigwade
  4. https://www.daigwade.org/
  5. Utah State University
  1. Kenden Quayle
  2. Graduate Research Assistant
  3. Daigwade
  4. https://www.daigwade.org/
  5. Utah State University
  1. Lili Yan
  2. PhD Candidate
  3. Daigwade
  4. https://www.daigwade.org/
  5. Utah State University
Public Discussion

Continue the discussion of this presentation on the Multiplex. Go to Multiplex

  • Icon for: Emmanuel Nti-Asante

    Emmanuel Nti-Asante

    May 10, 2022 | 10:31 a.m.

    I love these works

  • Icon for: Breanne Litts

    Breanne Litts

    Lead Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 10, 2022 | 03:55 p.m.

    Thank you for taking the time to watch, Emmanuel! 

  • Icon for: Barry Fishman

    Barry Fishman

    Facilitator
    Professor
    May 10, 2022 | 11:01 a.m.

    Breanne et al., this work is so inspiring! I am really pleased to see the blending of indigenous modes of thought and approaches to the environment with "western" science. I'm curious about the extent to which you seek to blend community knowledge with specific science learning goals, or if it is more important that all ideas/designs emerge from the community. As the "outsiders" in this partnership, what kinds of knowledge/perspective do you bring to the conversation and how do you manage your own contributions?

  • Icon for: Breanne Litts

    Breanne Litts

    Lead Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 10, 2022 | 04:15 p.m.

    Hi Barry, great to hear from you! Thank you for your encouraging comments on our work. These are important questions that I think we continue to grapple with. One thing that is important to note is that there is not a clean line between Utah State and the Northwestern Shoshone (three tribal members are also USU research assistants) nor between researcher and participant (our MOU outlines that anyone in the Tribe can self-determine how they would like to participate in the project from not at all to being an investigator on the research team). So, in a sense, the very structure of the project deconstructs the systemic structures dividing us. As a result, the Daigwade program is as much as university research project as it is a Tribal program.

    With this approach, we do identify learning goals together as a team for each workshop/event we do. For example, our goal in the plant workshop pictured in the video (daigwade.org/shoshoneplants) was to engage families around the traditional uses of plants shared by one of the Tribal Elders. We also had a local botanist present who shared western plant knowledge as families grew interested in them. These specific goals for each workshop are broadly shaped by the areas we're exploring (i.e. culture, science, technology, and art) and our overall goal to preserve and share Northwestern Shoshone culture. 

     
    2
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Marijke Visser
    Deborah Fields
  • Icon for: Deborah Fields

    Deborah Fields

    Associate Research Professor
    May 14, 2022 | 03:21 p.m.

    Love this. So what kinds of participation have you seen from various members, since so many different types are allowed?

  • Icon for: Breanne Litts

    Breanne Litts

    Lead Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 16, 2022 | 06:23 p.m.

    This is a great question! To date, we have had five tribal members move from being participants in workshops to also becoming part of the research team in various capacities. We've also had youth participants become mentors of the workshop spaces they previously participated in. It has been a very fluid process so far. 

  • Icon for: Breanne Litts

    Breanne Litts

    Lead Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 10, 2022 | 03:55 p.m.

    Welcome everyone!! We're looking forward to chatting with you all about our work. You can learn more about us at daigwade.org.

  • Icon for: Bryan Brayboy

    Bryan Brayboy

    May 10, 2022 | 04:24 p.m.

    "It's a legacy." This is such important work. I love what you're doing here.

  • Icon for: Breanne Litts

    Breanne Litts

    Lead Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 10, 2022 | 07:03 p.m.

    Thanks for your support Bryan! :) 

  • Icon for: Andresse St Rose

    Andresse St Rose

    Facilitator
    Director of Educational Research and Evaluation
    May 11, 2022 | 06:23 p.m.

    Thank you for your presentation, this work, and highlighting this approach to teaching and learning about science. It's a great legacy indeed! This reasonates so much for me-- I grew up in the Caribbean and my grandmother was my first science teacher as she would invite and encourage me to learn about the plants and how to use them for their medicinal purposes or for cooking. For instance, she taught me about enzymes and why she added green or unripe paw paw (aka papaya) to certain meat to help tenderize it, long before I learned about enzymes in school. Importantly, when we learned about enzymes in school my and other students' "home knowledge" was part of the lesson. This approach helped to create a culture that science was for everyone and not just a select few, which I learned was not true for everyone once I started college in the US.  

     
    2
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Deborah Fields
    Janet Coffey
  • Icon for: Breanne Litts

    Breanne Litts

    Lead Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 16, 2022 | 06:26 p.m.

    This is such a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing your experience and insights. 

  • Icon for: Janet Coffey

    Janet Coffey

    Facilitator
    Program Director, Science Learning
    May 13, 2022 | 01:53 p.m.

    Thank you for sharing this very compelling project.  After viewing the video and reading the comments, I would be interested for you to weigh in on this issue of 'learning goals'?  I wonder what you can share about what it looks like when goals are more place- and phenomena-based?  Based on the video and Andresse's comment (above), I'm struck that maybe we would be more successful if we flipped thinking about learning goals to goals for learning. I suspect your study could shed light on that. On a different note, can you say more about how this project took shape?  Thank you!

  • Icon for: Breanne Litts

    Breanne Litts

    Lead Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 16, 2022 | 06:30 p.m.

    Great question! I think the answer, in part, depends on how we define learning and what counts as learning. In my prior work, I tend to think of learning as something we can demonstrate through practice or participation. For example, in Daigwade, we've noted that people are learning by becoming a mentor of a workshop they were once a participant in. We are still working to figure out what are appropriate "learning goals" for our one-off events versus ongoing workshop spaces. The kinds of knowledge and forms of engagement differ by the spaces we open. 

  • Icon for: Deborah Fields

    Deborah Fields

    Associate Research Professor
    May 14, 2022 | 03:21 p.m.

    Enjoyed this video on your thought-provoking project! I'd love to know more about how the relationships developed (and continue to develop, from what I've read in the discussion so far) in the project.

  • Icon for: Breanne Litts

    Breanne Litts

    Lead Presenter
    Assistant Professor
    May 16, 2022 | 06:40 p.m.

    Thanks Debbie! Great to hear from you. How did our relationships develop? I think the answer to that question will vary depending on who you are talking to on the team. My take is a lot of sitting around a table together and talking. It is part of why we chose to record the video the way we did, since that is how we work together – spending time talking together, though there is usually food. Another piece that I think has been really important, for me personally, is that there has been grace-filled space to mess up, learn, and grow together as imperfect humans. Relationship work is messy and I think being patient and graceful with each other has helped a lot. Also laughter. :) We wrote a bit about that here: https://repository.isls.org/bitstream/1/7409/1/...

  • Icon for: Christopher McGinty

    Christopher McGinty

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 17, 2022 | 01:28 p.m.

    This is such powerful work. I would love to talk to you about how we can engage with you. Much of the work we do at AmericaView is geared towards learners of all types and all ages. I specifically would love to talk to you about a partnership we have established with the NASA AREN AEROKATS program - and something we are working on implementing in the Four Corners region to enhance geography education. I am at USU (Logan Campus) and would love to get in touch with you all!

  • Icon for: Marijke Visser

    Marijke Visser

    Section Supervisor
    May 17, 2022 | 06:01 p.m.

    I was so pleased to find your video and also very thankful for the approach you are taking to build the relationship with the tribal elders and other members. I am hopeful that this approach of designing research (and other projects) that is community driven with the expectation from the outset that the tribe drives the vision and the allies (researchers) are there to help the project reach the vision, is something that other researchers will replicate. In my collaboration with the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (https://www.atalm.org/) centering the voice(s) of the tribal librarians has been critical in establishing the necessary trust to make the work successful.