WISEST Pilots New Aboriginal Outreach Program
February 06, 2012
Tales from the Science Buffalo
Our new outreach program for Grade 6 students in rural Aboriginal communities is half-way through its pilot stage and going strong! Tales from the Science Buffalo is sponsored by Syncrude Canada and brings interactive science activities to Fort Chipewyan and Anzac, Alberta five times in the school year.
The main goals of the program are to increase awareness and excitement about science, engineering and technology and to encourage the pursuit of jobs in those fields that are also relevant to rural Aboriginal communities.
The topics for each of the five visits correspond to the five units in the Alberta Science Curriculum and always include an infusion of Aboriginal perspectives, such as discussing the significance of the eagle feather during the Air and Aerodynamics unit and looking at role models such as John Herrington, the first Native American Astronaut, in the Sky Science unit. The activities are also designed to be relevant to communities in the Wood Buffalo region and include determining the best way to clean oil off a duck feather and simulating an aerial fire fighter jump.
The name of the program stems from notion that "Education is the new buffalo" (as supported by University of Manitoba professor, Blair Stonechild's book The New Buffalo). Each visit is a chapter in a book of tales that explores and encourages the gifts the students have for Traditional Knowledge and Western Science. The students draw a pictograph to represent each chapter and these will be collected into a keepsake in the style of a Winter Count designed to commemorate their experience.
There are two chapters left for this school year. In April, the students will investigate and solve their very own crime scene and in June they will explore the lungs of the Earth-the forests.
Please read the article, U of Alberta reaches out through science program from the Slave River Journal (but keep in mind that the program is not actually centred around "the environmental effects the oilsands have on these communities" but instead includes many aspects of relevance to the Wood Buffalo region.)
To get a better idea of the fun we have, please view the videos below: