The teachers were supported to use the SPIRALS program in the several ways. We give a 2-hour overview of the SPIRALS program either in person or through the use of an online asynchronous webinar. Local educational specialists are embedded in both New England and Hawaii that meet with the teachers to help them plan how they were going to use SPIRALS in their classrooms. Some SPIRALS teachers allowed the students to investigate any practice within their community they thought was sustainable. Other teachers selected an area or a topic area such as the White Mountain National Forest or food and students selected a community practice from within that topic/area. A small group of teachers selected the community practice because they felt they knew the community member and could control the flow of the project more closely. The teachers along with the students determined how they were going to interact with the community member based on local context. A majority of the projects involved on-site visitations, structured interviews of the community members and online research. Community members have been very willing with their time, expertise and resources. Let me know if I can give you any more information.

Thank you Eleanor. I really like how you’re building into existing and local human and environmental resources! Yes, how could I learn more about your project?

Hi Jorge,

We have a website you can access—www.spirals.unh.edu. You can also contact us for more information any time you want.

Best,
Eleanor

Thanks for your question. The issue of language is essential in place-based pedagogies as a way of connecting local knowledge and practices to formal schooling. Our partners in Hawai’i are working in community organizations and schools with a deep respect for incorporating Hawai’ian language into educating youth. Hawai’ian language, culture and oral traditions are routinely a part of their pedagogy. We also encourage our partners in majority rural communities to consider local language and terminology as a part of science learning pedagogy. The self-determination of our local mentors and community partners with regard to their cultural sustainability is an important value for us.

You’ve read my mind! I was thinking of the Hawai’ian situation as well, and the progress that’s being made around Hawai’’ian as a language of instruction, thus increasing learning gains. Which indigenous languages are you using in New Hampshire?

Michel thanks for your thoughtful questions. In working with rural majority communities in New England, we have placed strong value on multigenerational oral traditions, knowledge-keeping, and language. We see a place for that knowledge to be honored and connected to formal knowledge systems that youth encounter in schools. Our community experts play a key role in keeping and sharing that local knowledge that connects youths’ sense of place to science learning.

What a great question. There were several surprises both on the curricular and research sides of the project. Almost every teacher believed that they were student-oriented. However, many teachers hesitated to allow students the space to determine what they wanted to know about the sustainability of a community practice. This concern was not unexpected but what was surprising was how to develop a dialogue to support teachers’ knowledge that students are capable investigators. The other surprise on the research side was developing a methodology to analyze student work—especially their pre and post group systems maps on their chosen community practice. In the end, we determined that we could assess student system maps on components, connections and comprehension of the community practice.

Hi Michael, our team has been trying to answer the same question. Having invested heavily in a small group of teachers over the past two years, we’re now wondering how to get our curriculum in the hands of more teachers while making sure they have adequate support. We think we have some good ideas, but it would be great to talk to other curriculum-focused teams to find solutions for the after-grant phase!

Joel, our group would enjoy connecting with you and your team. We’ve discussed ways to address this process but would welcome a larger group of colleagues to strategize!

Lesley, thanks for sharing your experience with us. I can understand how engaging rural and Indigenous communities in inquiry on climate change can create tension and resistance. Our approach to partnering has centered on developing relationships through our local educational experts who visit with educators and community members, build relationships, and remain connected throughout the project. I like your approach in looking for common ground through issues like water or clean energy. In our project, we have taken the position that it is important to explore and understand sustainability in our local practices and in our daily lives. We provide a framework through which youth can examine sustainability by including local knowledge and perspectives. Our hope is that they will emerge with a sense of the complexity of sustainability and the importance of examining the world around us. We don’t extend our work to advocacy based on their findings but have had teachers who were interested in extending the work in that direction after our project has ended. I’m curious how other groups will respond to your questions as well.

Thanks for responding Michael. I would be curious if others can offer advice. We are partnering with Science Discovery of CU who has had a very long-term relationship with this particular area, running many workshops that are quite popular there. Unfortunately, the strong partnership was not enough to get over the hump of the resistance to this topic.

Dlilaruz, Thanks for your comments. We have just started to analyze some our data on motivation. Along with surveys we also interviewed the students to understand whether our approach helped with motivation. We will have some of our data analyzed by the end of the summer. We would be happy to share the results with you. As Michael mentioned in his response above, one area we are currently discussing within our group is how to continue to support the teachers once the grant money runs out. We would like to know if there are ways we can make their involvement and investment sustainable. I am curious to know if you have any insights into how you would sustain teacher involvement once your DRK-12 funding is over.