Gonzaga University
Learning from Native Tribes Leads to Better Education for Everyone

When Brook Swanson and his colleagues first met with the Spokane Tribe elders, they brought an agenda.

But the Gonzaga University biology professor quickly learned that relationships, not lists, are the best way to start improving science education at the tribe's K-12 school in Wellpinit, Wash. With part of the college's first HHMI grant for $1.2 million, the biology department is expanding its relationship with the tribe to help bring science teaching across the cultural divide.

Before that first meeting, the faculty at the university in Spokane, Wash., knew they needed to learn from the tribal elders, mostly older women, and Native teachers. Previous programs, both at Gonzaga and across the country, have not been particularly successful at attracting Native Americans into science careers.

In the year since, Swanson has had his first lesson: Native Americans think about science differently. "They don't treat things like science as a separate discipline, but rather as one of many interconnected things that dictates our view of the world," he said. "How you interact with your environment is an integral part of your community and your spirituality."

That means Native Americans often talk about science through stories, filled with context and subtext and nuance—something modern science teaching often lacks. The new curriculum Gonzaga faculty and students are developing for the school will include lots of stories, through case studies or the history of science. This process of evaluating cultural differences will be just as valuable in teaching other students, who benefit from learning science in context, Swanson said.

The university has a long history of working with local tribes, and its biology department is renewing its commitment to outreach. Working with a public school—the Spokane Tribe's school, another Native American K-8 school on the Colville Reservation, or a local public school—will be mandatory for students following the school's research track, which will be expanded with the HHMI grant. "By having to do outreach, students get interested in teaching," said biology professor Nancy Lynn Staub, Gonzaga's HHMI program director. "We're hoping to attract some of our bright science and math students into teaching science."

In addition to its K-12 outreach, Gonzaga faculty hope to begin teaching joint classes with a tribal college and to start trying out some of their ideas for how to teach with more cultural sensitivity. Eventually, the university hopes to publish its findings in a science education journal.

The faculty are excited about the program, and Swanson says the tribe's members are equally enthusiastic. They understand the problem with the dearth of Native Americans in science each time they have to hire a fish and wildlife biologist or doctor from outside their community. "They recognize this as a major issue, but they also have no desire for us to come in and tell them how to teach their students," Swanson said. "And we don't want that either."