The Story of 13 Moons: Developing an Environmental Health and Sustainability Curriculum Founded on Indigenous First Foods and Technologies

October 27th, 2020 | RESEARCH

The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community developed an informal environmental health and sustainability (EHS) curriculum based on Swinomish beliefs and practices. EHS programs developed and implemented by Indigenous communities are extremely scarce. The mainstream view of EHS does not do justice to how many Indigenous peoples define EHS as reciprocal relationships between people, nonhuman beings, homelands, air, and waters. The curriculum provides an alternative informal educational platform for teaching science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) using identification, harvest, and preparation activities of First Foods and medicines that are important to community members in order to increase awareness and understanding of local EHS issues. The curriculum, called 13 Moons, is founded on a set of guiding principles which may be useful for other Indigenous communities seeking to develop their own curricula.

Document

13moons-donatuto-2020.pdf

Team Members

Jamie Donatuto, Author, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
Larry Campbell, Author, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
Diana Rohlman, Author, Oregon State University
Joyce K. LeCompte, Author, Camassia Resource Stewardship
Sonni Tadlock, Author, Washington SeaGrant

Citation

Identifier Type: DOI
Identifier: doi:10.3390/su12218913

Publication: Sustainability
Volume: 12
Page(s): 8913

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: AISL
Award Number: 1516742
Funding Amount: $296,147

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: AISL
Award Number: 1812543
Funding Amount: $895,076

Funding Source: Other
Funding Program: Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results
Award Number: 83559501

Funding Source: Private Foundation
Funding Program: First Nations Development Institute

Funding Source: Other
Funding Program: Good Health andWellness award to the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board’sWellness for Every American Indian to Achieve and View Health Equity (WEAVE-NW).

Related URLs

13 Moons pdf
Developing an informal environmental health education model for use in Tribal communities
Transforming American Indian and Alaska Native STEM Learning via Indigenous Knowledge Translation, Education, and the Environment

Tags

Access and Inclusion: Ethnic | Racial | Indigenous and Tribal Communities
Audience: Educators | Teachers | General Public | Museum | ISE Professionals
Discipline: Ecology | forestry | agriculture | Health and medicine | Life science
Resource Type: Peer-reviewed article | Research Products
Environment Type: Community Outreach Programs | Public Programs