Native American Studies
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/51
The Department of Native American Studies was established to provide and advance quality education for and about American Indians of Montana, the region, and the nation. In fulfilling this mission, the Department is committed to meet the changing needs of Montana's Indian tribes and all Montana citizens through excellence in teaching, research, and service. In its academic program, the department provides concentrated study through an undergraduate minor, the first online graduate certificate in Native American Studies offered, and a Master of Arts degree in Native American Studies. Students in any major can also gain a multicultural perspective through NAS offerings in the University's core curriculum. The Department, through its research and other creative efforts, actively pursues interdisciplinary scholarship in the field of Native American Studies.
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Item The effects of explicit science vocabulary instruction on vocabulary acquisition on the Flathead Indian Reservation(Montana State University - Bozeman, Graduate School, 2016) Stockton, William M.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Peggy Taylor.Explicit vocabulary instruction is a teaching strategy that involves a teacher selecting three to five vocabulary words and focusing instruction around those words. When working with students who are English Language Learners or struggle with vocabulary acquisition, this strategy is thought to be very successful. Students on the Flathead Indian Reservation often struggle with vocabulary acquisition. In addition to this, some Native American students are also labeled English Language Learners; thus, the amount of explicit instruction was increased over several units. Significant gains were observed in each of the three units, but because these gains did not correlate with the increase of instruction, the quantitative data was inconclusive. These gains do indicate that the baseline of 22% instructional time was an adequate amount of instruction to improve scientific vocabulary acquisition.Item Teacher competency testing and Native Americans in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1987) Crennen, Margaret A.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Krishna K. TummalaItem Integrating Native American Mdewakantion Sioux culture with environmental science curriculum(Montana State University - Bozeman, Graduate School, 2014) Herdina, Kyle Lawrence; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Peggy Taylor.Native American students struggle to form a connection to science education due to a lack of culturally relevant material. While many state teaching standards require educators to attend a cultural awareness course as part of the licensure process, there is a lack of culturally relevant materials available to educators. The need to develop culturally relevant resources that is engaging to Native American students has driven many educators to develop their own material. In this study, educators spent time researching and developing a cultural plant field guide to use within their environmental education and outreach program on the reservation. Participants were given questionnaires, content knowledge self-assessments, and structured interviews in order to determine their knowledge of cultural plants before and after the activity, what resources they relied on when identifying and researching cultural plants, as well as their perspective on developing their own resources. The results from the data collection methods showed that educators had minimal knowledge of cultural plants as well as minimal knowledge on where to locate resources on this subject. Their frustration in finding appropriate resources to utilize was notable and brought awareness as to a void that needed to be filled. While the educators expressed their desire to utilize existing resources to teach with they did note that the process of developing their own material provided them with a better background knowledge and confidence of the material as well as a the likelihood that they would utilize the material they created in the future.Item The pragmatism of Native American Studies : an examination of Native American Studies at Montana State University and its relationship to Montana's tribal colleges(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2011) Miller, Colin Fields; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Matthew HermanThis thesis examines the relationship between Montana State University-Native American Studies and Montana's tribal colleges. The thesis seeks to bridge the academic classroom with the pragmatic tribal community through outreach efforts. The author attempts to gauge the interest, between Fort Peck Community College and MSU-NAS, as to implementing measures such as a student exchange program and MSU-NAS tribal community service initiative. Measures such as these seek to improve communication, cooperation, and collaboration between the two institutions. The author's methods include conducting multiple interviews with MSU-NAS faculty, tribal college faculty, MSU-NAS graduate students, and former MSU-NAS graduate students. The author also traveled to Fort Peck Community College on two separate occasions to discuss these ideas. The results of these trips and interviews evidence a clear desire within the MSUNAS department, as well as at FPCC, to foster a stronger relationship through efforts such as a student exchange program and possibly a tribal community service initiative. The author concludes that more formal efforts made by MSU-NAS towards FPCC will improve the department's outreach component. The author also concludes that the faculty at FPCC, particularly Vice-President of Academic Affairs Dr. Florence Garcia, will be receptive of these efforts and open to a dialogue regarding increased cooperation and collaboration between the two institutions. The author believes that a formal memo of understanding, drafted by MSU-NAS and sent to FPCC, detailing the efforts that MSU-NAS is willing to make regarding a student exchange program would be helpful to this end. The author also concludes with a recommendation that a formal dialogue begins among MSU-NAS faculty, which examines ways in which MSU-NAS can have a more practical relationship with Montana's tribal communities.Item Teaching for social justice in the writing classroom : exploring possibilities(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2011) Bullard, Lisa Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Lisa EckertThis project attempts to answer one tiny part of a life-long question: how do people influence others to care about social justice? To narrow this question down, I focused on the classroom as a potential site for change, and researched pedagogical practices and classroom materials that could help teachers achieve a goal of teaching for social justice. Using Action Research, I examined the effect of using learner-centered teaching methods and relevant social justice themed content with my Writing 101 students, to assess if they would be influenced to care about a specific social justice issue. Students examined the dominant use of "Standard English" in the classroom, and the effect that can have on students who do not speak "Standard English" as their home language. I asked students to question whose language is allowed in the classroom, whose is not allowed, and who decides whose language gets to be spoken. I administered a pre and post survey, collected student writing, and used my observations to assess results. I found that many students in the course did shift their opinions. It appeared that using "adult learning centers" along with a variety of other teaching methods contributed to students' shifting opinions. This study adds to the small body of knowledge about teaching practices and materials that work towards social justice, but also points to the need for more qualitative research in this area.