Progress 01/15/11 to 01/14/17
Outputs
Target Audience:A primary outcome of the POSOH Project is to build a richly cross-cultural community of mutually supportive learning professionals. The core value in this community that we are fostering is a shared commitment to increased participation and success--by students across the Menominee Nation and the Upper Midwest--in rigorous science coursework throughout public schools. POSOH targets the building of connections across the K-16+ educational system in our region to increase the number and diversity of students from rural and Tribal communities who are interested in and have strong competencies in traditional western science and Indigenous environmental knowledge. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In Year 6, POSOH was involved in the professional development workshop called "Learning from the Land" that was held at the College of Menominee Nation and attended by over 25 individuals. This was offered to a broad mix of stakeholders from the Menominee Nation area and extended to educators who work in tribal schools around the nation to examine models for effectively teaching sustainability science topics in ways that recognize and respect both scientific and indigenous ways of knowing. Further, three workshops were given at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association annual conference, reaching over 30 conference participants. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All of the professional development opportunities that were facilitated by the POSOH project were dissemination events that involved educators and community members. In addition, the conference presentations made at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association's annual conference were valuable for dissemination in the region and throughout Wisconsin. Further, graduate students who were at one time POSOH Project Assistants--Linda Orie, Justin Gauthier, and Reynaldo Morales--made presentations to undergraduate students with ties to teacher education at UW-Oshkosh, UW-Madison, and CMN. More broadly, the POSOH website serves as a valuable resource for educators across the nation. In 2016, the POSOH Project website (www.posohproject.org) had 3,439 page views of which 76% were new visitors. Hosting this website, the digital library, and POSOH's new online course will continue for a minimum of two years beyond the Project's end through a donation made by Swarming Technology of Milwaukee, WI. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1-Obj 1.1 Provide middle-school teachers with professional development (PD) focused on appropriate bioenergy relevant science knowledge. Yr 6 Output: POSOH's science units and resources were disseminated widely throughout northeast Wisconsin and beyond. These resources include: a Grade 7 science unit (completed in Yr 3 as a bound, 345-page book with a DVD containing eight POSOH-made videos); a Grade 8-11 science unit (completed in Yr 5, a 140-page science unit with associated videos that supports teaching and learning about photosynthesis, combustion, and trade-offs/affordances associated with personal, cultural, and societal choices related to sustainability--all big ideas aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards); a digital library with cataloged resources for teaching science at any grade level in the context of place-based and culturally-relevant topics (available online at www.posohproject.org); plus a fully digital version of POSOH Grade 8-11 science unit, titled Picekan pemeh: High-hopes for Bioenergy and Sustainability (available at http://learn.posohproject.org). Goal 2-Obj 2.1 Form an Interdisciplinary, Multi-cultural Professional Learning Community who will share ideas, seeding multi-perspective creativity. Yr 6 Output: In June of Year 6, a three-day professional development workshop titled Learning from the Land was offered at the College of Menominee Nation (CMN). This workshop engaged 20+ leaders and educators from across the nation along with Sustainable Development Institute staff to examine and evaluate models for reciprocal teaching and learning that are based on different ways of knowing in relationship to sustainability sciences. During this work, POSOH's science units served as a model for designing and implementing rigorous, place-based, and culturally relevant teaching across disciplines. Fall semester of the 2016/17 school year, an offshoot partnership formed out of the multi-cultural and interdisciplinary work that was started through the POSOH Project. A weekly seminar on sustainable development and indigeneity was presented by CMN and the Sustainable Development Institute in collaboration with UW-Madison, coordinated by UW-Madison doctoral candidate and former POSOH Project Assistant, Reynaldo Morales. The focus of the 14-week seminar was on sharing sustainable development research and practices between the UW community and the Menominee Nation. Also developed through partnerships that were fostered by the POSOH Project, former POSOH Project Assistant, Linda Orie, joined a UW-Madison anthropology team in 2016 to bring interdisciplinary, research-based education opportunities to schoolchildren, members of the public, and undergraduate and graduate students that are tied to fieldwork at the Aztalan Native American site in central Wisconsin. Goal 2-Obj 2.2 Support several CMN undergraduate students' participation in research experiences. Yr 6 Output: POSOH leadership at UW continued to employ a student hourly worker/intern who was a UW-Madison undergraduate from the Menominee Nation area: Justin Gauthier. Additional undergraduate student interns from CMN were also employed during the summer months. These undergraduates assisted Cherie Thunder at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) with the POSOH Project's Sustainability Leadership Cohort (SLC), mentoring high-school youth who are from tribal communities in the area of the College of Menominee Nation. Goal 2-Obj 2.3 Build strong collaborative relationships among partner organizations; participation in regional and national conferences to present the work of POSOH. Yr 6 Output: The POSOH process and model was disseminated to educators who attended the Wisconsin Indian Education Association conference via three formal presentations. Additionally, POSOH Project partner organization, CESA 8, served as a liaison to schools and districts across northeastern Wisconsin, sharing resources and opportunities that have been developed by the POSOH Project in both small and large northeastern Wisconsin educator events. Goal 3-Obj 3.1 Collaboratively design and develop POSOH instructional materials for teaching sustainability. Yr 6 Output: During Year 6, we continued to make available the project's written and digital curricula, along with associated, custom-made educational videos. These materials have been available for over two years for free access on the POSOH website (www.posohproject.org and www.learn.posohproject.org). Downloads of POSOH's units through the www.posohproject.org website began in December of 2014 and increased to approximately one download per month in 2016 for a total of 41 downloads. The user making the download is asked how they intend to use the unit, and from the responses, the users' roles and rationale for wanting access are recorded. Eighteen of the downloads were made by undergraduates, graduate students, outreach staff, professors, and assistant professors at institutes of higher education or museums with the reason for download having to do with educating other educators. Therefore, each of these instances represents the potential for significant amplification of POSOH's impact. The other downloads were made by teachers, parents, and other educators who were interested in using the materials with students, children, or educating themselves. Further, POSOH's digital curriculum is now available for use and the teacher's edition has been accessed over ten times since it was released in January of 2017. Goal 3-Obj 3.2 Build an afterschool club model that can increase students' skill-building and self-image in science studies and leadership. During Year 6 of the POSOH Project, our focus was primarily on refining the Native American youth Sustainability Leadership Cohort (an outside-of-school science club). This club, also known as the SLC, has been and continues to be implemented at the Sustainable Development Institute of the College of the Menominee Nation (CMN); i.e., our project led to the institutionalization of the club. We made changes to reflect lessons learned and to help make progress towards the program becoming self-sustaining. This innovative, community-centered science club now continues in 2017--without POSOH support--as a five-month experience in which high school participants and undergraduate mentors investigate a theme related to bioenergy, sustainability, and Native American culture by participating in a strategic sequence of experiences. POSOH's SLC continues to serve as an example for other indigenous and mainstream communities who are seeking solutions for engaging student populations who are rarely interested in science and engineering academics or careers. Goal 4-Obj 4.1 Build strong collaborative relationships among K-12, community, higher education, business and professional organization partners to foster sustainability of POSOH activities and provide venues for dissemination. Yr 6 Output: The POSOH Project's overarching goal was to contribute innovative solutions for a significant national problem: the underrepresentation of individuals from non-mainstream cultures in science-related academic endeavors and careers. In all venues in which POSOH Project participants have made presentations about the Project's work, the work has been well received accompanied by numerous requests for additional information and/or access to curricula, videos, or Project materials. Also, during Year 6, lead POSOH personnel who have been extensively involved in the project's implementation collaboratively prepared a comprehensive article to be submitted to journals and disseminated curriculum materials and information through presentations. In these ways, we have strengthened the overall impact of the project beyond the region in which it was developed and implemented.
Publications
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Lauffer, Hedi B., ed. Picekan pemeh: Energy and Sustainability. POSOH Project. USDA-funded Project, 2015. Web. 9 May 2016. http://posohproject.org/grade-9-unit
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Lauffer, H. B. (Ed.). (2016, December 30). Picekan pemeh: Energy and Sustainability. Retrieved May 9, 2017, from https://learn.posohproject.org
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Orie, Linda and Gauthier, Justin. Picekaen pemeh: Learning Science Through Story. Presentation at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association Annual Conference 2016, Madison. USDA, Apr. 2016.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Morales, Reynaldo and Orie, Linda and Bohman, Carrie. Beyond Resistance: Participatory Sustainability Education and Culturally Relevant Pedagogies for Environmental Action and Change. Presentation at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association Annual Conference 2016, Madison. USDA, Apr. 2016.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Oskeh-Mamaceqawak Keketowak-Youth Speak Dec. 7, 2016: This free family/community event held on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at the Menominee Indian School District High School. The purpose was to support the Sustainability Leadership Cohort in presenting their fiction film Kaeyas Mesek Oskeken (Its Old and Its New) that was produced during summer 2016. Cohort participants reflected on lessons learned during their participation and spoke to encourage other students to apply for the 2017 cohort.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Caldwell, C., Lauffer, H. B., Flick, K., Grignon, J., Grignon, J., Morales, R., & Thunder, C. (2016). The Menominee Forest: A Place-based, Collaborative Education Project in Support of Developing Sustainable Practices Emerging from the Community. Unpublished manuscript, College of Menominee Nation, Sustainable Development Institute.
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Progress 01/15/15 to 01/14/16
Outputs
Target Audience:A primary outcome of the POSOH Project is to build a richly cross-cultural community of mutually supportive learning professionals. The core value in this community that we are fostering is a shared commitment to increased participation and success--by students across the Menominee Nation and the Upper Midwest--in rigorous science coursework throughout public schools. POSOH targets building connections across the K-16+ educational system in our region to increase the number and diversity of students from rural and Tribal communities who are interested in and have strong competencies in traditional western science and Indigenous environmental knowledge. Year 5 participant counts included 37 K-12 teachers (unduplicated count) representing K-12 public or Tribal schools from 17 school districts (unduplicated count). K-12 participants have engaged in 4 POSOH Project activities on average annually (range 1-18). Average teacher participation is at least double this average number when considering presentations, publications, field trips, meetings, work groups, and/or online/phone based activities. In addition, 64 participants (unduplicated count) from UW and CMN have participated in the five-year POSOH project as key faculty, collaborative staff, or interns working directly on the project. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In Year 5, POSOH offered professional development experiences to a broad mix of stakeholders from all partner institutions and the Menominee Nation area and extended to educators who work in tribal schools around the nation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All of the professional development opportunities that were facilitated by the POSOH project were dissemination events that involved educators and community members. In addition, the conference presentations that were made at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association's annual conference were valuable for dissemination in the region. More broadly, the POSOH website serves as a valuable resource for educators across the nation. In 2015, the POSOH Project website (www.posohproject.org) had 8,855 page views of which 88% were new visitors. The greatest number of visitors begin at the POSOH Project homepage; the second and third top pages visited are those where POSOH science units can be downloaded. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Key goals of our project will be brought fully to fruition during Year 6, an extension to the POSOH Project of one year to 1/14/2017. This additional year will compensate for the intensive start-up time during Year 1 that was necessary for building what has become an effective cross-institutional collaboration. During Year 6, we are focused in three primary areas: 1.) Refining the Native American youth Sustainability Leadership Cohort (an outside-of-school science club) that is implemented at the Sustainable Development Institute of the College of the Menominee Nation (CMN) to reflect lessons learned and to become self-sustaining. This innovative, community-centered science club is a five-month experience in which high school participants and undergraduate mentors investigate a theme related to bioenergy, sustainability, and Native American culture by participating in a strategic sequence of experiences. The capstone experience for participants includes the production of a student-generated video that is created in a news broadcast format. Reporters in the news broadcast deliver stories that are based on what club members have learned about the year's theme. This video is presented in an annual "Youth Speak" community-wide event where the video's young producers share their work and stories about their experiences with relatives and other Menominee Nation area community members. Additionally, youth-participants have in the past three years made presentations at the annual Wisconsin Indian Education Association conference. Although we were unable to begin development of the model for this club until Year 2 of the project (because it took a full year for the lead POSOH position at CMN to be hired) most aspects of the proposed model have been developed and are working well. During Year 6, we are focusing more on the leadership and academic components of the model, refining how we help extend its reach for supporting student-participants' success in formal STEM learning domains. Also, during Year 6 we are communicating explicitly about the SLC model with CMN/SDI faculty and staff so that they are able to incorporate ideas for its continued support (through federal programs and the Menominee People), further institutionalizing its operations after our NIFA project ends. 2.) Supporting implementation and gathering evaluation data from area tribal and public school teachers who are implementing POSOH curricula and strengthening our professional development efforts in area schools. We have reached many teachers to date, but we are now in a position to reach even more. Therefore, during Year 6 we are working to strengthen our outreach to area educators by offering introductions to POSOH's curricula during district-specific, in-school meetings that will be facilitated by our CESA 8 partner. 3.) Disseminating POSOH's models for collaborative curriculum development and a sustainability-focused outside-of-school science club as effective methods for strengthening non-mainstream students' interests in science-related academics and careers. The POSOH Project's overarching goal was to contribute innovative solutions for a significant national problem: the underrepresentation of individuals from non-mainstream cultures in science-related academic endeavors and careers. In all venues in which POSOH Project participants have made presentations about the Project's work, the work has been well received, accompanied by numerous requests for additional information and/or access to curricula, videos, or Project materials. During Year 6 lead POSOH personnel who have been extensively involved in the Project's implementation are collaboratively preparing publications to be submitted to journals and disseminating through presentations the models developed and utilized during our Project. In this way, we are strengthening the overall impact of the Project beyond the region in which it was developed and implemented.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1-Strengthen the regional K-16 education system--especially at underserved schools. Obj1.1 Provide middle-school teachers with professional development (PD) focused on appropriate bioenergy relevant science knowledge. Yr 5 Output: POSOH's Grade 7 science unit (completed in Yr 3 as a bound, 345-page book with a DVD containing eight POSOH-made videos for the unit in Yr3) shared widely with educators in northeast Wisconsin and beyond. Completed and printed a new unit on bioenergy for middle/high school. This 140-page science unit, titled Picekan pemeh:High-hopes for Bioenergy and Sustainability supports teaching and learning about photosynthesis, combustion, and trade-offs/affordances associated with personal, cultural, and societal choices related to sustainability--all big ideas aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. Two one-week summer institutes for teachers with a fall follow-up session were co-facilitated by POSOH Project staff and graduate students to support use of these units. Also in Year 5, a day of professional development for College of Menominee Nation (CMN) faculty engaged 20+ educators along with Sustainable Development Institute and Teacher Education Program staff. During this work, POSOH's science units served as a model for designing and implementing rigorous, place-based, and culturally relevant teaching across disciplines. Goal 2-Strengthen connections across the K-16+ educational system. Obj2.1 Form an Interdisciplinary, Multi-cultural Professional Learning Community who will share ideas, seeding multi-perspective creativity. Yr 5 Output: In place of the collaborative curriculum development work that the POSOH Project facilitated in previous years, a group of 20+ scientists, tribal community members, and educators who have been closely involved with the POSOH Project convened at UW-Madison in May of Yr5 for a "Ways of Knowing Gathering." The purpose was to reflect on challenges, successes, and lessons learned through the POSOH Project's efforts to develop ways of teaching about bioenergy and sustainability such that students' learning opportunities honor the variety of ways humans make sense of the natural world, including through traditional and scientific ways of knowing. Obj 2.2 Support several CMN undergraduate students' participation in research experiences. Yr5 Output: POSOH leadership at UW continued to employ two student hourly workers/interns who are UW-Madison undergraduates from the Menominee Nation area. These students are working as lab assistants and assisting in POSOH curriculum development and teacher professional development work. During the summer months, these undergraduates also assisted Cherie Thunder at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) with the POSOH Project's Sustainability Leadership Cohort (SLC), mentoring high-school youth who are from tribal communities in the area of the College of Menominee Nation. Two intern undergraduates at CMN were also supported to participate in mentoring activities related to science education in the region, including supporting outreach events with area schools and supporting POSOH's SLC. These undergraduate mentors assisted in chaperoning and guiding the ecological and sustainability research that SLC student-participants conducted and then in film-making to create a video broadcast "news show" in which they reported their findings. Obj2.3 Build strong collaborative relationships among partner organizations; participation in regional and national conferences to present the work of POSOH. Yr 5 Output: The POSOH process and model was disseminated locally to CMN staff, students,and faculty; visitors from other UW and Tribal Colleges; twenty-seven area school district superintendents; and educators who attended the the Wisconsin Indian Education Association conference via formal presentations. POSOH Project partnerorganization, CESA 8, served as a liaison to schools and districts across northeastern Wisconsin, sharing resources and opportunities that have been developed by the POSOH Project in both small and large northeastern Wisconsin educator events. Goal 3-Advance the quality of educational opportunities available for rural students in our region. Obj3.1 Collaboratively design and develop POSOH instructional materials for teaching sustainability. Yr5 Output: Written curricula and associated, custom-made educational videos were posted for free access by all on the POSOH website (www.posohproject.org). In addition, we cataloged into a digital library on the POSOH website along with all associated resources that were generated by the POSOH Project curriculum development team at UW-Madison. These digital resources are now easily accessible by teachers and others interested in education in the area directly served by the POSOH Project and across the nation. Year 5 of the POSOH project involved further growing the project's partnerships and community support base. In total, 237 POSOH documented activities from 2011-2015 provided project activities for students (K-12 and post-secondary), families, community members, industry partners, POSOH interns, and project staff to attend. POSOH sponsored events attracted 2,522 documented participants; of these attendees, 46% were students, 45% were adults, and 9% were interns (Bowman Performance Consulting, POSOH Project's External Evaluator Participation Database). Participants have engaged in major project activities, trainings, meetings, and institutes between two and sixteen times during these five years. POSOH's broad reach included multi-jurisdictional partnerships that spanned the legal and governmental systems of Tribal, municipal, state, and federal governments. POSOH also seamlessly brought together the public, private, and non-profit sectors via their industry and community agency collaborators from rural, urban, and Reservation contexts.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Lauffer, Hedi B., ed. Picekan pemeh: Energy and Sustainability. POSOH Project. USDA-funded Project, 2015. Web. 9 May 2016. http://posohproject.org/grade-9-unit
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Gauthier, Justin E., Linda Orie, and Amy Gauthier. The POSOH Model: A Tool for Supporting Cultural Connections and Responsiveness in Teacher Professional Development. Presentation at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association Annual Conference 2015, Milwaukee. USDA, Apr. 2015. Web. 9 May 2016. http://posohproject.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015-POSOH-WIEA-presentation-.pdf
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Thunder, Cherie. Promoting Higher Education and Community Leadership through a High School Cohort Program: POSOHs /SDIs Sustainability Leadership Cohort. Presentation at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association Annual Conference 2015, Milwaukee. USDA, Apr. 2015.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Morales, Reynaldo. Digital Technologies in the POSOH Project: Digital Media and Local Capacity in Indigenous Education. Presentation at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association Annual Conference 2015, Milwaukee. USDA, Apr. 2015.
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Progress 01/15/14 to 01/14/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The original call for proposals that led to the POSOH Project emphasized the need for a regional approach for addressing our future needs by educating students to have a "multidisciplinary and problem solving framework." We are working on this challenge by taking both a multidisciplinary and a multicultural approach. We are developing a model in which multidisciplinary in the field of sustainable bioenergy is strengthened by adding multicultural elements because the "problem-solving framework" can then reflect a broader collective wisdom, building our capabilities for holistically and effectively tackling the complex problems that lie ahead. As such, our target audience is diverse and includes educators from northeast Wisconsin from middle through undergraduate levels, community members in the Menominee and Oneida Nations and surrounding areas, high school, undergraduate and graduate students, scientists and industry leaders in Wisconsin, and science education leaders across the United States. As of 2014, POSOH has reached and continues to build relationships with most everyone who has participated in the project, including148 total participants (unduplicated count). This includes 13 community/industry partners; educators in 14 K-12 schools from rural and tribal communities in WI; and six collegiate partners. Changes/Problems:Our implementation of POSOH's workflow and timeline for curriculum development and teacher professional development has changed somewhat each year because of four primary factors. First, the time it takes for collaborative curriculum development in a community where it takes time to build trust and participation has slowed the process overall. In addition, our commitment to genuinely integrating cultural knowledge with science learning requires more research than we originally anticipated. In addition, we have learned that the teachers we are serving with professional development are widely distributed because this is a rural area, so our institutes need to be held at various locations to attract all teachers in the area and the number of teachers at any given institute are smaller than we originally anticipated. Finally, the Menominee leadership for this project initially specified that the materials developed for this area should not be used elsewhere for a number of important reasons. Therefore, we did not plan for holding summer institutes at in Michigan at KBS or northwest Wisconsin at CESA 10. However, with the completion of the final version of the Grade 7 Unit, our Leadership Team re-evaluated their position and decided there is interest in sharing POSOH's science units more broadly. During Year 5, we will be exploring the implications of this decision in how we may disseminate the Project's curriculum more broadly. The POSOH project has also undergone some personnel changes during Year 4. At the end of August, Kate Flick--Sustainability Education Coordinator at the College of Menominee Nation's Sustainable Development Institute (funded primarily by POSOH)--accepted an opportunity for doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota. Fortunately, Cherie Thunder--who is experienced with POSOH's work, highly qualified, and is an enrolled Menominee Tribal member--was available to step into this position. Prior to her graduation from UW-Madison in December 2013, Thunder worked closely with Lauffer as a student intern for the POSOH Project. Her responsibilities were wide-ranging and required that she self-manage her time in support of our collaboration. During the academic year, Thunder was primarily involved in helping to develop experimental protocols and conduct research for the POSOH curricula, and she assisted in developing support materials for teachers to use those protocols and research. Then, during the first summer when Thunder worked with Lauffer, she held an intern position that involved learning about various models for culturally responsive science teaching and learning. Thunder attended a variety of summer professional development sessions to compare different approaches for supporting science learning that is situated in a Tribal context. Next, during her second summer, Thunder worked as an intern with the SDI's Sustainable Leadership Cohort program and grew her mentoring skills through involvement with that aspect of the POSOH Project. Following graduation from UW-Madison, Thunder joined SDI as a research assistant and took on additional responsibilities with POSOH's Sustainable Leadership Cohort. Most recently, Thunder stepped in as interim Sustainability Education Coordinator when Kate Flick resigned to return to graduate school and was soon after hired into that position, permanently. We see this change to Thunder's leadership as a positive and significant shift towards the sustainable institutionalization of POSOH's work at CMN through SDI. Also at the end of August, Adam Dewitt left the Project for a principal position in the area. Dewitt was the director of Curriculum Instruction and Assessment and POSOH liaison at CESA 8, an education services organization that serves 27 schools in northeastern Wisconsin and important partner in the POSOH Project. Dewitt has been replaced by JoAnn Miller, a highly qualified science educator who can strengthen the POSOH's reach to area science teachers and broaden our ability to disseminate information about POSOH's model through a variety of national science education venues. Miller was chosen the 2013 Wisconsin State Teacher of the Year and Oconto's school district teacher of the year in 2012. She joined CESA #8 and our project in fall of 2014 and has already started working collaboratively with POSOH partners' staff, building connections with area districts, engaging their participation and supporting teacher-participation in Design Teams and Professional Development. Miller will also assist with engaging districts, teachers, and students in POSOH's Sustainability Leadership Cohort activities. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In Year 4, a third POSOH Summer Institute for teachers for the Grade 7 unit and the first Institutes for the Grades 8 and 9 Units were held at CESA 8. All institutes were co-facilitated by Linda Orie (current graduate student at UW in education, past middle school science teacher at Menominee Tribal School, Oneida descendent), Dan Albrent (area high school science teacher who participated in all three POSOH Design Teams), and Justin Gauthier (undergraduate student, enrolled Menominee Tribal member, CMN graduate, POSOH curriculum developer) with Lauffer mentoring. Teachers who came from school districts throughout the region surrounding the Menominee Nation as well as Tribal schools attended these 4-day long intensive units. Courses through Viterbo College were established for each of the POSOH summer institutes so that teacher-participants could earn up to two credits for participation. Fall follow-up professional development (PD) for teachers who had attended POSOH's summer institutes was held on December 6, 2014. In addition, co-facilitators from summer 2014 are maintaining contact with PD participants and supporting their implementation of POSOH lessons thru email and Edmodo (educational social network). Currently, dates have been selected for the 2015 Summer Institutes to be held at both CMN and CESA 8, and flyers are being made to advertise the Institutes to area districts. In addition to 6-12 teacher professional development, a multidisciplinary faculty professional learning community was established and facilitated at the College of Menominee Nation to support improved teaching practices in the sciences and other disciplines there.This group met for three days in spring and summer of 2013, facilitated by Kate Flick of the Sustainable Development Institute of CMN. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?CMN and UW-Madison POSOH staff and students have made presentations at multiple conferences about POSOH's work, including AISES, FALCON, and Tribal events.All UW-Madison POSOH staff, students, and interns stayed together as a group and made presentations together in spring of 2014 at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association conference in Bayfield, Wisconsin. Also in Year 4, we designed and completed development of the POSOH website (see www.posohproject.org) which includes information about the project, current updates about presentations and other ongoing activities (via blogs) and a curriculum and teacher resource page in which all materials are available digital, including the curricula and supporting videos, images, and links to related research. We are currently in the process of designing and developing a digital library (using a content management system that was designed explicitly for use by indigenous communities) to catalog POSOH resources such that they will be highly searchable and disseminated long-term through this library, maintained at the close of the Project by CMN. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During Year 5 of the POSOH project, teacher professional development through summer institutes with fall follow-up and ongoing online support will continue for dissemination of all three of the project's science units. We are implementing the work of teacher professional development in Year 5 with careful attention to documenting the design, agendas, and implementaiton strategies used so that the effective approaches we are developing can be carried on by POSOH partner, CESA 8. Additionally in Year 5, a third cohort of high school students from the Menominee and Oneida Nations' area will be recruited to participate in POSOH's Sustainability Leadership Cohort (SLC) experience, facilitated by our colleagues in the Sustainable Development Institute at CMN. During this third year of the SLC, we are working on institutionalizing this as a summer program at CMN that can continue after the POSOH project concludes. Also, we are currently articulating and preparing to publish writings about our models for place-based, collaborative processes that foster academic and career growth with an emphasis on sustainability- and bioenergy-related areas. While this work is currently focused, as proposed, in the region of the Menominee and Oneida Nations in Wisconsin, we are now preparing to communicate effectively about the model so that it may be transferrable to other regions with their distinct contexts for sustainability and different minority cultures. During the fifth year of the project we will do more writing and submit proposals for presentations during appropriate conferences in years four and five. Further,we are using instructional video in innovative ways to share with others our experiences with the work of POSOH. These videos are available on our website and are used during presentations at conferences. In fall of Year 5, we will host at both CMN and UW-Madison a movie event that will feature culminating videos from the POSOH project as well as videos produced by POSOH's SLC. Finally,UW-Madison graduate student Amy Gauthier is learning the Mukurtu content management system (CMS), a system developed by programmers in Pullman, Washington explicitly for cataloging indigenous artifacts so that they can be annotated on multiple levels to disseminate information for different audiences. This will be the CMS used by the POSOH Project to catalog resources amassed and/or created by the Project.When the POSOH project concludes, the entire POSOH website and Mukurtu digital library will be migrated to servers controlled by SDI for ongoing dissemination.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1, Year 4 accomplishments: 1. Of the 29 teachers from area K-12 schools who have participated in the work of the POSOH project, roughly 36% have been engaged with the project for three years or more. These are called "active" project participants. Active project participants have increased their scientific and cultural content knowledge while on the POSOH project by over 60% as self-reported. And of these active participants over half "strongly agree" that they've improved their ability, capacity, and resources to support rural/tribal youth in the POSOH project. 2. Teacher professional development (PD) through 4-day long summer institutes and a Saturday, fall follow-up day support area educators to learn POSOH's three science units. This PD is co-facilitated by a team that includes experienced and effective science educators and Native American culture keepers who--together--teach and learn with teacher-participants to improve the region's educational system on multiple levels. To support widespread and ongoing replication of these summer institutes, a facilitation guide for the Grade 7 Unit is being finalized, and guides for the Grade 8 and 9 institutes are being developed to support future co-facilitation teams. Goal 2, Year 4 accomplishments: 1. For 3 years, POSOH Design Team participants have been recruited from a strategic mix of educators, community members, and scientists to build new collaborations across institutions, schools, communities, and cultures. These teams work together and share discussions that go far beyond. 2. POSOH's teacher professional development is reaching out into area school districts with the project's place based & culturally relevant science materials and overall relationship building. 3. In spring 2014, Gauthier and Lauffer made presentations about POSOH's work to all 27 area school districts and the CESA 8 Board of Directors. 4. Two CESA 8 District Supervisor meetings that involve participants in the Keshena area were held at the Menominee Casino across from CMN to increase familiarity throughout the region with CMN and potential networking. 5. Each year POSOH presentations have been given in fall to Menominee Tribal Schools' boards. In December of 2014, a "Youth Speak" event was held to share with Menominee community members about the work of POSOH's Sustainability Leadership Cohort. 6. Lauffer, Orie, and Gauthier used POSOH's Grade 7 Unit and its focus on biodiversity and sustainability as the foundation for an undergraduate course at UW-Madison that they co-taught. These undergraduates had opportunities to engage in research into the relationships between Indigenous and Western Science ways of understanding the natural world and values placed on biodiversity as they relate to sustainability in the Menominee Forest. Goal 3, Year 4 accomplishments: 1. Three intensive collaborative Design Team Institutes have been successfully facilitated as planned in the original POSOH proposal. From each Design Team Institute, POSOH staff and interns have developed three units (as proposed) to support rigorous science learning in the POSOH Project's area. These units are currently in the following stages of development: a. Grade 7 Unit completed, professionally formatted for print, and available along with all videos and support materials on the POSOH website. b. Grade 8 Unit is fully developed and in draft stage, being field-tested by teachers who attended POSOH professional development. c. Grade 9 Unit conceptual flow and storyline have been synthesized from the work of the Grade 9 Design Team (June 2013) and the first draft of the unit is completed and being field-tested by teachers who attended POSOH professional development. 2. Undergraduate research experiences planned for this project have expanded to also include high school students from Menominee Nation area schools. Kate Flick (POSOH lead at CMN) selected from 30 applicants10 high school students who formed the first Sustainability Leadership Cohort (SLC) based out of SDI. In Year 3 and Year 4, this included up to five undergraduate student interns who worked with and mentored SLC members, helping with participation in four key events: 1) Odyssey trip (focus on team-building and broadening awareness), 2) Travel to a location in which ecological science research is being conducted (focus on science research), 3) Film workshop (focus on action research and communication), 4) Final field trip (focus on sustainability and service learning). 3. The Year 4 SLC format built on the Project's first year's experiences and new emerging opportunities with input from POSOH Leadership members: Flick, Schramm, and Gauthier. Year 4 included a final field trip that engaged the SLC students in a service-learning component in which they assisted flood victims in Colorado to both learn about how water challenges differ geographically and experience a leadership role of helping others outside of their local area. The success of this experience will be built upon in Year 5. 4. Average student GPA's in the student leadership cohorts has increased over time. Through review of SLC materials, case files, pre/post survey data, student essays/projects, online posts and data, and supervisor reports you can see positive impacts of POSOH. Fewer students dropped out of SLC cohort 1 vs. SLC cohort 2. More individual projects and higher levels of student participation in SLC activities were completed in year four vs. year five. Goal 4, Year 4 accomplishments: 1. All UW-Madison POSOH staff, students, and interns participated with all of SDIs staff and the SLC second cohort during the start of the cohort's Odyssey trip. The entire group stayed together and made presentations together at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association conference in Bayfield, Wisconsin, giving the SLC a clear vision of the scope and potential impact of their leadership roles. 2. CMN and UW POSOH staff and students made presentations at multiple conferences about POSOH's work, including AISES, FALCON, and Tribal events. For Year 5, we are currently submitting proposals to present at larger, national conferences. 3. POSOH website, developed in 2014 (see www.posohproject.org) includes information about the Project, current updates about presentations and other ongoing activities (via blogs) and a curriculum and teacher resource page in which all materials are available digital, including the curricula and supporting videos, images, and links to related research. We are also developing a digital library to catalog POSOH resources such that they will be highly searchable and disseminated long-term through this library, maintained at the close of the Project by CMN. 4. In POSOH's evaluation report for 2014, it was reported that the project has impacted 148 total participants (unduplicated count) as of September, 2014. This includes 13 community/industry partners; 14 K-12 schools from rural and tribal communities in WI; and six collegiate partners. In total, involvement in this rural project includes: 29 teachers from K-12 schools; 26 students in the SLC cohorts; and 15 higher education students who have been interns with the POSOH project at CMN or UW-Madison.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
www.posohproject.org
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Progress 01/15/13 to 01/14/14
Outputs
Target Audience: A primary outcome of POSOH is to build a richly cross-cultural community of mutually supportive learning professionals. The core value in this community that we are fostering is a shared commitment to increased participation and success—by students across the Menominee Nation and the Upper Midwest—in rigorous science coursework throughout public schools. POSOH targets building connections across the K-16+ educational system in our region to increase the number and diversity of students from rural and Tribal communities who are interested in and have strong competencies in traditional western science and Indigenous environmental knowledge. In year three, there have been 11 teachers from 10 different school districts who have taught the POSOH curriculum units to at least 233 students (duplicated count). In addition, the first Sustainability Leadership Cohort (SLC) was active in year three (2013) and included 12 total SLC participants in grades 9-12 with seven major on site (CMN) and in the field activities (including a field trip to Wisconsin’s Kemp Field Station to study with atmospheric scientists). Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In Year 3, POSOH offered professional development experiences to a broad mix of stakeholders from all partner institutions and the Menominee Nation area: A 4-day summer Design Team summer institute followed by a 2-day curriculum development session were facilitated by Lauffer and POSOH staff plus a 2-day Design Team review session was held at the beginning of December. During these POSOH experiences participants developed a common understanding and shared vision-development that emerged from the process of collaborative, place-based curriculum development (which is equal in importance to the products--instructional materials—being produced). In addition, a 3-day field test retreat was held in February 2013 for members of the Design Team who are teachers and who fieldtested the Grade 8 unit in spring 2012. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Year 3 of the POSOH project involved further growing the project's partnerships and community support base. To date, there have been 92 POSOH participants (unduplicated count) who have been involved regularly with project activities taking place since the start of POSOH in January 2011. A total of 309 participants have attended 16 events from May 2011 through December 2013 (12.16.13 POSOH Participation Database). Participants have engaged in major project activities, trainings, meetings, and institutes between two and sixteen times during this timeframe with five being the average number of POSOH events attended. POSOH participants on the 2013 Levels of Collaboration Survey shared information about the benefits, barriers, and suggestions for improving collaboration. Benefits of collaboration most often mentioned were: connecting with diverse partners, impacting teaching with diverse learners, professionalism of collaborating colleagues, and creating sustainable resources and change in local communities. Barriers to collaboration included: distance from each other, turnover of key project staff, and inclusion of more Menominee cultural infusion into the curriculum. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Our overarching goal for POSOH is to develop a model for supporting teachers and students to learn both sustainability and bioenergy concepts and understand that these concepts can be explored, explained and applied during decision-making using multiple perspectives. POSOH’s undertakings are designed to build cross-cultural collaborations and honor both tribal ways of knowing and learning together and typical science ways of knowing to construct integrated perspectives on sustainability that can advance agricultural practices and promote energy solutions for the future. POSOH’s work continues into Years 4 and 5 closely aligned with the logic model that was included in the original proposal. Our inputs have coalesced as designed, the outputs are proceeding as planned, and the outcomes—including a wide variety of stakeholders, educators, and students engaging in bio-economic-related academics and career paths are beginning to come to fruition. In years four and and five of our project, we will increase dissemination of both the POSOH model for collaborative curriculum development and POSOH’s three science units for grades seven, eight, and nine. We are proposing activities, presentations and potential publications in venues where sharing POSOH’s model for change is most likely to be effective and productive. In addition, during the next two years we are increasing the numbers of and locations for opportunities for teacher professional development, supporting the implementation of all three POSOH units. Year four and early year five will also include the final revisions and professional formatting of the grade eight and nine POSOH units and associated videos, using feedback from teachers who teach with those units in fall 2014. All of this work is based out of UW-Madison and involves POSOH-funded undergraduate and graduate students who have been selected because of their potential for sustaining the work of POSOH (or related work) long after the project’s funding has concluded. POSOH’s work that is centered at the College of Menominee Nation’s Sustainable Development Institute will continue in Year 4 with further development of the high school grade-level science club, called the Sustainability Leadership Cohort. Students applied and a group was selected for this year’s scheduled activities, which are designed to build confidence among students in their knowledge of science and sustainability in the context of their communities and beyond. In addition, a new professional learning community, involving some of the College’s faculty was started in spring 2014, with meeting dates scheduled throughout the summer. This learning community is designed to support faculty to refine their own college curricula in light of strengthened cultural, scientific, and pedagogical understandings gained through a variety of shared experiences facilitated and/or orchestrated by POSOH staff. All of these POSOH activities at the College of Menominee Nation involve undergraduate interns who are learning and gaining valuable experiences as they are mentored by POSOH and College faculty and staff. The original call for proposals that led to the POSOH Project emphasized the need for a regional approach for addressing our future needs by educating students to have a "multidisciplinary and problem solving framework." We are working on this challenge by taking both a multidisciplinary and a multicultural approach. We are developing a model in which multidisciplinary in the field of sustainable bioenergy is strengthened by adding multicultural elements because the "problem-solving framework" can then reflect a broader collective wisdom, building our capabilities for holistically and effectively tackling the complex problems that lie ahead. POSOH is making progress towards its primary goal, to facilitate changes in K-12 science education such that students will have opportunities for developing this problem-solving framework. POSOH is working to make a significant long-range contribution to improving science education by developing a framework that will be widely disseminated for integrating multidisciplinary and multicultural learning goals in teaching and learning bioenergy concepts (e.g. cycling of matter between energy-rich and energy-poor chemicals and carbon cycling, light to chemical energy transfer, interactions and interdependence in ecosystems). At this stage in the project, we report with confidence that POSOH’s activities and deliverables are on track and its impact is substantial and well aligned with the originally proposed goals.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1-Strengthen the regional K-16 education system--especially at underserved schools. Obj1.1 Provide middle-school teachers with professional development (PD) focused on appropriate bioenergy relevant science knowledge. Yr 3 Output: POSOH’s Grade 7 science unit was completed and formatted into a bound, 345-page book with a DVD containing eight POSOH-made videos for the unit. A one-week summer institute for teachers with fall follow-up was held to support use of the unit in fall 2013. Also in Year 3, POSOH’s 4-day Design Team Institute and Fall Design Team 2-day Review Session engaged 20+ total collaborators, including middle / high school teachers from the Menominee Tribal School, the Menominee Indian School District, Oneida Indian Turtle School District, and three public school districts adjacent to the reservations along with Sustainable Development Institute and Teacher Education Program staff from the College of Menominee Nation (CMN), community members and faculty/researchers/graduate students from UW, MSU and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. Design Team participants were facilitated by POSOH Leadership to design the third of 3 science units that are place-based, culturally relevant, and focused on understanding sustainability, bioenergy, and ecological principles. Goal 2-Strengthen connections across the K-16+ educational system. Obj2.1 Form an Interdisciplinary, Multi-cultural Professional Learning Community who will share ideas, seeding multi-perspective creativity. Yr 3 Output: The third of POSOH’s 3 student-centered units for middle-level grades that focus on understanding sustainability in ways that include both traditional and scientific ways of knowing was designed collaboratively over the summer of 2013 and is being developed by POSOH staff during Year 3 for fieldtest in Year 4. Obj 2.2 Support several CMN undergraduate students' participation in research experiences. Yr 2 Output: POSOH leadership at UW continued to employ four student hourly workers/interns who are undergraduates from the Menominee Nation area. These students are working as lab assistants and assisting in POSOH curriculum development. UW also supported two summer internships for two of these students—one student worked again with a UW dendrologist, researching signs of earthworm invasions in the Menominee Forest area, the other student participated in science education research with the Sustainable Leadership Cohort at CMN. Two intern undergraduates at CMN were also supported to participate in research activities related to science education in the area and outreach to area schools, supporting POSOH’s afterschool sustainability club. Additionally, Kate Flick, POSOH co-PI at CMN’s Sustainable Development Institute, piloted a the Summer High School Sustainability Leadership Cohort in which 10 tribal and public high school students from the area learned sustainability, STEM, and bioenergy principles, while working on community-centered research projects and field experiences. Obj2.3 Build strong collaborative relationships among partner organizations; participation in regional and national conferences to present the work of POSOH. Yr 3 Output: POSOH’s 2013 Design Team spanned the K-16 education system in both the region of the Menominee Nation and the University of Wisconsin, and their work together built strong connections. The POSOH process and model was disseminated locally to CMN staff, students, and faculty; visitors from other UW and Tribal Colleges; 27 area school district superintendents; and the Wisconsin Environmental Education Foundation via formal presentations. Goal 3-Advance the quality of educational opportunities available for rural students in our region. Obj3.1 Collaboratively design and develop POSOH instructional materials for teaching sustainability. Yr 3 Output: Design and development of an 4-week science unit for Grade 9 students that focuses on sustainability and energy concepts in the context of the area of the Menominee and Wisconsin Oneida reservations.
Publications
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Progress 01/15/12 to 01/14/13
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Goal 1-Strengthen the regional K-16 education system--especially at underserved schools. Obj1.1:Yr 2 Output: POSOH's Grade 7 science unit was developed and field-tested in three schools--Menominee Tribal School, Menominee Indian School District's middle school, and the Oneida Turtle School. A one-day summer PD session was held to support a second field test of the unit in fall 2012, in which assessments developed by our MSU partners are being used and refined in preparation for producing the final version of the unit to be disseminated through summer institutes for teachers held in each year of the project from summer 2013 on. POSOH also is supporting fieldtest teachers through an internship position held by a teacher participants in spring/summer 2012. This internship is continuing in Nov-Dec 2012 to strengthen Orie's science content knowledge. Also in Year 2, POSOH's 4-day Design Team Institute and Fall Design Team 2-day Review Session engaged 20+ total collaborators with participants from all POSOH partners and communities. Goal 2-Strengthen connections across the K-16+ educational system. Obj2.1: Yr 2 Output: The second of POSOH's 3 student-centered units for middle-level grades that focus on understanding sustainability in ways that include both traditional and scientific ways of knowing was designed collaboratively over the summer of 2012 and is being developed by POSOH staff during Year 2 for fieldtest in Year 3. Obj2.2: Yr 2 Output: POSOH leadership at UW continues to support four student hourly workers/interns who are undergraduates from the Menominee Nation area. These students are working as lab assistants and assisting in POSOH curriculum development. UW also supported 2 summer internships for 2 of these students. Two intern undergraduates at CMN were also supported to participate in research related to ag practices in the area and outreach to schools, building the foundation for POSOH's afterschool sustainability club. Kate Flick, POSOH co-PI at CMN, partnered with the Menominee Indian High School Permaculture Club, working with between 3-10 high school students weekly from March-May 2012. This provided a basis for a pilot of the Summer High School Experience in which 10 tribal high school students from 3 area high schools participated 2x per week June 11-Aug 1, 2012 in hands-on learning and application of sustainability, STEM, and bioenergy principles. Obj2.3: Yr 2 Output: POSOH's 2012 Design Team spanned the K-16 education system in both the region of the Menominee Nation and UW, and their work together built strong connections. The POSOH process and model was disseminated locally to CMN staff, students, and faculty; visitors from other UW and Tribal Colleges; and the Wisconsin Environmental Education Foundation via formal presentations. Goal 3-Advance the quality of educational opportunities available for rural students in our region. Obj3.1: Yr 2 Output: Design and development of an 8-week science unit for Grade 8 students that focuses on sustainability and ecological concepts in the context of the agricultural practices historically and currently in the area of the Menominee and Wisconsin Oneida reservations. PARTICIPANTS: The POSOH project team is multi-cultural, comprised of educators, researchers and Tribal Elders, who bring an immense variety of understandings, abilities and interests in bioenergy, sustainability, and education, including both Indigenous and scientific ways of knowing. Lead Project Director, Amasino also leads the GLBRC education and outreach division, and he is both knowledgeable and dedicated to informing a variety of audiences about bioenergy research, energy concerns, and sustainability issues. Primary co-PD from CMN, now Kate Flick (as Melissa Cook took a new position outside of CMN), brings to POSOH experience connecting formal and informal education and teaching science in ways that connect students' experiences of the natural world with big ideas in science. Lauffer is the Director of the Wisconsin Fast Plants Program at UW, a 25-year old non-profit education outreach entity bringing inquiry-based learning experiences and innovative education tools and materials to all ages. Lauffer directs the POSOH project and facilitates the collaborative efforts. Anderson, associate director of the division of the Division of Science and Mathematics Education at MSU, brings broad experience in developing scientific literacy; Anderson contributes deep understanding of current learning progression research to POSOH's curriculum development efforts. Greenler directs the GLBRC's wide-reaching outreach education efforts in bioenergy and biofuels and brings strong connections to research and industry partners with education-oriented interests. Eric Larson continues to leverage his strong ties with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the area's districts, schools and teachers (who are served by Larson through his partially-POSOH-funded position with the region's Cooperative Educational Service Agency) to recruit participants and foster support for POSOH. Combined, POSOH senior personnel and supporting collaborators possess the expertise needed to accomplish POSOH's goals. In Year 2, POSOH offered professional development experiences to a broad mix of stakeholders from all partner institutions and the Menominee Nation area: A 4-day summer Design Team summer institute followed by a 2-day curriculum development session were facilitated by Lauffer and POSOH staff, plus a 2-day Design Team review session will be held at the end of November. During these POSOH experiences, participants developed a common understanding and shared vision-development that emerged from the process of collaborative, place-based curriculum development (which is equal in importance to the products--instructional materials--being produced). In addition, a 3-day fieldtest retreat was held in February 2012 for three members of the Design Team who are middle school teachers and who fieldtested the Grade 7 unit in spring 2012. An additional PD day was held in August 2012 to prepare teachers from the Menominee and Oneida Tribal schools who are teaching the Grade 7 unit for its second field test in fall 2012, prior to its broader dissemination in Years 3-5. TARGET AUDIENCES: A primary outcome of POSOH is to build a richly cross-cultural community of mutually supportive learning professionals. The core value in this community that we are fostering is a shared commitment to increased participation and success--by students across the Menominee Nation and the Upper Midwest--in rigorous science coursework throughout public schools. POSOH targets building connections across the K-16+ educational system in our region to increase the number and diversity of students from rural and Tribal communities who are interested in and have strong competencies in traditional western science and Indigenous environmental knowledge. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: No major changes made.
Impacts
Year 2 of the POSOH project involved further growing the project's partnerships and community support base. The combination of the summer/fall Design Team Institute and multiple community meetings/school board presentations continue to be key for developing the relationships, trust and enthusiasm for the project that are necessary for its success. Additionally, in Year 2, POSOH reached out to the Oneida Nation, and they are now represented in the project's Design Team, community participation, and the sociocultural context and concepts included in the Grade 8 science unit. In accordance with our evaluation plan, pre- and post-participation surveys are being given to Design Team members that will demonstrate the impact these Year 2 activities had for participants (who included 20+ total collaborators, including middle / high school teachers from the Menominee Tribal School, the Menominee Indian School District and the Oneida Indian Turtle School District along with Sustainable Development Institute and Teacher Education Program staff from CMN, and faculty/staff from UW, MSU and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center). Survey results will be analyzed and reported after the Design Team's fall meeting, November 30-December 1, when the post-participation survey will be administered.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/15/11 to 01/14/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Goal 1-Strengthen the regional K-16 education system--especially at underserved schools. Obj1.1 Provide middle-school teachers with professional development (PD) focused on appropriate bioenergy relevant science knowledge. Yr 1 Output: POSOH's 4-day Design Team Institute and Fall Design Team 2-day Review Session engaged 20+ total collaborators, including middle / high school teachers from the Menominee Tribal School, the Menominee Indian School District and the Oneida Indian Turtle School District along with Sustainable Development Institute and Teacher Education Program staff from the College of Menominee Nation (CMN), and faculty/staff from UW, MSU and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. Design Team participants were facilitated by POSOH Leadership to design the first of 3 science units that are place-based, culturally relevant, and focused on understanding sustainability, bioenergy, and ecological principles. Goal 2-Strengthen connections across the K-16+ educational system. Obj2.1 Form an Interdisciplinary, Multi-cultural Professional Learning Community who will share ideas, seeding multi-perspective creativity. Yr 1 Output: The first of POSOH's 3 student-centered units for middle-level grades that focus on understanding sustainability in ways that include both traditional and scientific ways of knowing was designed collaboratively over the summer of 2011 and developed by POSOH staff during Year 1. Obj2.2 Support several CMN undergraduate students' participation in research experiences. Yr 1 Output: POSOH leadership at UW hired four student hourly workers/interns who are undergraduates from the Menominee Nation area. These students are working as lab assistants and assisting in POSOH curriculum development. One intern undergraduate at the CMN was also supported year-round to participate in both educational and science-based research related to curriculum development. Obj2.3 Build strong collaborative relationships among partner organizations; participation in regional and national conferences to present the work of POSOH. Yr 1 Output: POSOH's 2011 Design Team spanned the K-16 education system in both the region of the Menominee Nation and the University of Wisconsin, and their work together built strong connections. The POSOH undergraduate intern at the CMN presented posters about POSOH several regional events. In Feb 2011, Amasino, Lauffer and Greenler introduced the POSOH project to a meeting of 14 industry leaders who serve as an advisory panel for the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative. Goal 3-Advance the quality of educational opportunities available for rural students in our region. Obj3.1 Collaboratively design and develop POSOH instructional materials for teaching sustainability. Yr 1 Output: Design and development of an 8-week science unit for Grade 7 students that focuses on sustainability and ecological concepts in the context of the Menominee forest. In addition, the POSOH project evaluation plan was developed during Year 1 and key POSOH staff were hired, including: Sustainability Education Coordinator at CMN: Kaitlyn Flick, POSOH lead at CESA 8: Eric Larsen, graduate student curriculum coordinator at UW: Manali Sheth. PARTICIPANTS: The POSOH project team is multi-cultural, comprised of educators, researchers and Tribal Elders, who bring an immense variety of understandings, abilities and interests in bioenergy, sustainability, and education, including both Indigenous and scientific ways of knowing. Lead Project Director Amasino also leads the GLBRC education and outreach division, and he is both knowledgeable and dedicated to informing a variety of audiences about bioenergy research, energy concerns, and sustainability issues. Primary co-PD from CMN, Cook, brings to POSOH years of experience connecting industry, community and educational interests, resources and needs. Cook managed forest products manufacturing at Menominee Tribal Enterprises before joining CMN where she now directs the SDI. Lauffer is the Director of the Wisconsin Fast Plants Program at UW, a 25-year old non-profit education outreach entity bringing inquiry-based learning experiences and innovative education tools and materials to all ages. Lauffer directs the POSOH project activities and facilitates the collaborative efforts. Anderson, associate director of the division of the Division of Science and Mathematics Education at MSU, brings broad experience in developing scientific literacy; Anderson contributes deep understanding of current learning progression research to POSOH's curriculum development efforts. Greenler directs the GLBRC's wide-reaching outreach education efforts in bioenergy and biofuels and brings strong connections to research and industry partners with education-oriented interests. Mitchell, CMN's Sustainability Coordinator, is dedicated to carrying forward to future generations the Indigenous knowledge kept by American Indian Elders and others. His life experiences and community connections combine effectively with Larson's prior work with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the area's districts, schools and teachers (who are served by Larson through his partially-POSOH-funded position with the region's Cooperative Educational Service Agency). Combined, POSOH senior personnel and supporting collaborators possess the expertise needed to accomplish POSOH's goals. In Year 1, POSOH offered professional development experiences to a broad mix of stakeholders from all partner institutions and the Menominee Nation area: a 4-day summer Design Team summer institute, facilitated by Lauffer and POSOH staff plus a 2-day Design Team review session. During these POSOH experiences participants developed a common understanding and shared vision--development that emerged from the process of collaborative, place-based curriculum development (which is equal in importance to the products--instructional materials--being produced). TARGET AUDIENCES: A primary outcome of POSOH is to build a richly cross-cultural community of mutually supportive learning professionals. The core value in this community that we are fostering is a shared commitment to increased participation and success--by students across the Menominee Nation and the Upper Midwest--in rigorous science coursework throughout public schools. POSOH targets building connections across the K-16-plus educational system in our region to increase the number and diversity of students from rural and Tribal communities who are interested in and have strong competencies in traditional western science and Indigenous environmental knowledge. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: There have been no major changes in the POSOH project during Year 1.
Impacts
Year 1 of the POSOH project involved the initial formation of the project's partnership and development of community-wide buy-in. The combination of the summer/fall Design Team Institute and multiple community meetings/school board presentations were key for developing the relationships, trust and enthusiasm for the project that are necessary for its success. In accordance with our evaluation plan, three surveys were given during the POSOH project's Year 1 Design Team Institute and fall review meetings. These following data are derived from the pre-summer (n=9), post1-summer (n=13), and post2-fall 2011 (n=13) surveys and demonstrate the impact of POSOH's Year 1 activities for participants (who included 20+ total collaborators, including middle / high school teachers from the Menominee Tribal School, the Menominee Indian School District and the Oneida Indian Turtle School District along with Sustainable Development Institute and Teacher Education Program staff from CMN; faculty/staff from UW, MSU and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center). Summary of key survey results follow: 100% of project participants stated they increased their understanding and improved their clarity for all five POSOH learning outcome areas: (1) sustainability/bio-energy/ecosystem concepts, (2) human inquiry/evidence sources (3) human construction of knowledge/nature of science, (4) contextual/place-based understandings, and (5) decision-making using cultural and scientific knowledge. On average there was a 63% increase reported from summer to fall 2011 in participants' understandings and clarity about these five POSOH learning outcomes. 100% of current project participants stated that the POSOH project involves integration of their current work with project activities (is relevant). There was a 77% knowledge increase from summer to fall 2011 in participants' understandings about what sustainability and bio-energy mean to K-12 students in their community. There was a 29% increase from summer to fall 2011 in participant's awareness and knowledge in bio-energy careers (local and outside of the community) that are available to interested students.
Publications
- Grignon, J., Lauffer, H. B., & Sheth, M. (2012, April 16). POSOH: Integrating perspectives to drive the development of place-based and culturally relevant sustainability curriculum. Presented at the AERA Annual Conference, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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