Creating Bridges Instead of Borders: Fostering Student Resilience Through Integrated, Play-Based Watershed Curriculum

• In Event: (Re)Placing Rural Education: Unpacking Place at the Intersections of Rural and Indigenous Education

Abstract

The state of North Dakota is vast, rugged, and rural, comprised of diverse cultural communities, representing distinct histories, language, and community values, situated within the unique geographic regions of the state. Watersheds are directly and historically tied to their communities, which allows for meaningful application of culturally-situated STEM learning. Watershed education offers restorative work on cultural and natural systems that fosters resiliency and ecological literacy through hands-on learning, which “widens empathy, emphasizes leadership and working in the community, and cultivates an understanding of ecosystems” (Goleman et al., 2012). Watersheds link ecological and cultural histories, stories of diverse communities, and interconnections between humans and ecology (Goleman et al., 2012).

Education tethered to place provides a necessary space for teachers to embed language and culturally significant learning experiences in their practice. Research highlights that environmental degradation and biodiversity loss is significantly less on Indigenous lands and that Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is effective in conserving biodiversity and sustainable land use. Inherent to TEK are thriving communities and resilient native speakers (Cajete, 2005, 2016). The loss of biodiversity and the loss of cultural diversity go hand in hand. Resiliency and healthy biocultural communities do as well. Research has shown that biological and social systems are strengthened with diversity and that these are all connective issues that relate to cultural and ecological sustainability. Focusing on culturally and ecologically sustaining pedagogies that are place-based and draw from the deep well of Indigenous essential understandings is requisite to strengthen place-based education.

Author

• Hollie Mackey, North Dakota State University