Design Principles for Integrating Local Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Climate Education in the Mariana Islands

• In Event: Indigenous Schools and Schooling in Diverse Democracies

Abstract

Extreme variations in the earth’s climate have radically changed the ecosystems, economics, cultural practices, language, and lifeways of the Chamorro and Carolinian peoples who live in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands in the Western North Pacific. It is essential that the upcoming generation gain science understandings that incorporate indigenous knowledge and applied problem solving, in order to help address the adverse climate effects. This paper examines the deliberations of a Local Professional Learning Community—a multidisciplinary group of cultural practitioners, elders, youth, scientists and educators—formed to identify, articulate, and share a set of design principles to guide the integration of indigenous knowledge and climate education practices in the CNMI, and focus future research in this urgent climate domain.

Authors

• Sharon Nelson-Barber, WestEd

• Zanette Johnson, Stanford University

• Elizabeth Rechebei