At Sells:

AN "IDEA GREENHOUSE" that produces money and learning experi ences as well as vegetables is in operation at Baboquivari High School in Sells, capital of the Papago Nation.

Designed by University of Arizona Environmental Laboratory (ERL) staff, the controlled-environment greenhouse serves as a multipurpose teaching tool at the high school.

Marketing is one of the areas of learning-by-doing utilizing the 100-by-32-foot greenhouse. It was constructed with state-administered federal funds secured by David E. Cox, head of the high school's vocational agriculture department.

"Business students are marketing a crop of tomatoes to two trading posts and a restaurant on the reservation," said Carle 0. Hodge, ERL research coordinator. He coordinated ERL consulting services on the project.

Hodge said smaller tomatoes from the current crop are being sold to the high school's cafeteria.

The greenhouse will have been "classroom" to 325 students when its first year of use closes this spring. Hodge said that even some elementary school children have been involved in greenhouse programs.

Don L. Peterson, superintendent of the Indian Oasis School District, said the facility is an excellent tool for special education classes.

Approximately 15 agricultural mechanics students built the structure. Crops are planted by vocational horticulture students.

Business classes also maintain financial records, art students work up advertising campaigns, and home economics groups prepare suggested menus using the crops, Hodge said. Biology students also have space in the unique classroom.

Speakers at the dedication of the facility last February were Baboquivari High School Principal Walter Holly; Fred Sughrue, ESET Title III director; Dr. John P. Schaefer, U of A president, and Peterson and Cox, who initiated the project.

Schaefer defined the university's obligation as a conveyor of knowledge and a provider of service to mankind. ERL's design and consulting services were donated.

"We are pleased and privileged to have played a small role in this very impressive project," he said.

Certificates of accomplishment were awarded Allen Antone, Lee Roy Antone, Timmie Siquieros and Phillip Lewis for their efforts in building the first controlled-environment greenhouse on Papago land.

Cox said the young men, all juniors at the high school, worked after school hours and on weekends to erect the structure. This semester they are teaching assistants in basic agricultural mechanics.

Certificates were awarded also to ERL technicians Paul Kinyicky and James Alexander, horticulture technician Joseph Gancio and Dr. John Peck, project engineer and designer of the Papago greenhouse.

In Tempe:

Traditionally, Indian education was individualized instruction. Each child learned at his own pace and level of ability. For example, the Hopi gave their little girls Kachina dolls. The doll was really an individualized instruction kit, and the child learned the name and purpose of the Kachina through use and play with her doll. Other tribes had "kits" too - such as mock tipis, bow and arrows, etc.

The Cook School has modernized this type of instruction by using cassette tapes, slide-tape shows, and printed material, each supplementing the other. The facilities of the Center are arranged so that a person need not get in another's way.

Funded for two years by Lilly Endowment, Inc., of Indianapolis, the laboratory serves an all-Indian student body. Cook Christian was founded over a half century ago in the adjacent city of Phoenix, and moved to larger, new facilities five years ago. Indians from all adjacent states and the territories of Canada attend the school for its unique training methods.

The student body is composed of persons with educational backgrounds ranging from the second grade through college, and cultural backgrounds of the Pima, Papago, Eskimo, Sioux, Cree, Cheyenne (to mention a few) tribes. With such diversion, there is a need to provide individualized attention which traditional group-oriented programs and instruction do not provide. The term "individualized instruction" refers to programs and processes which allow a student to work at his own level of ability, and at his own pace, to meet his own goals and to avoid failure.

The Individualized Learning Center became operational at the beginning of this year's spring semester. A total of 27 students are. enrolled in the courses offered. Four of the courses that would have been taught in the traditional self-contained classroom are Basic Literature, Composition, Basic Math, and Basic Science.

Another four courses are new offerings made possible by specific materials in the Center and do not require adding staff or increasing the load of the present staff. These courses are Speed Reading (improving reading rate), School Survival Skills (study skills), Introduction to Psychology, and Consumer Education. Two of the courses, Basic English and journalism, are taught in part in the Learning Center.

Two other self-instructional courses offered are the American Indian Bill of Rights and Lakota History, Culture, Religion and Crafts. Allen "Chuck" Ross, an intern who is working on his doctorate in Minnesota, has written the material for these two courses.

Director of the Center is David Campbell, and Jeanne Smith is supervisor of the laboratory. The Center will expand next year to about 24 individual carrels or learning stations, and is conveniently located next to the open-stack Library of the School.

Although it is too early for a formal evaluation, some interesting things have been noted. Student absences have been significantly reduced; many students come early and stay late; most all students show an interest in directing their own learning; and some students have asked that the Center be open nights. (J.P.P.)

Jim Lujan, writing in the Albuquerque Area Education Profile, has noted a phenomenal growth in the number of students receiving Bureau of Indian Affairs scholarship grants in the past five years. On a fiscal year basis, the breakdown is as follows: 1969 - 208 students, 1970 - 290, 1971 - 420, 1972 - 564, and 1973 - 694.

In the Albuquerque area, more than 600 students are attending 36 colleges and universities in 1972-73. Of these, 556 come from the All-Indian Pueblo Council and Laguna Pueblo.

For the fiscal year 1974, about 700 students are expected to ask for BIA funds assistance, although more and more (about 50 this year) attend higher educational institutions without Federal help.

More than 13,000 American Indians are under Bureau of Indian Affairs scholarships or sponsorships for 1972-73. Of the $20,965,000 budget - largest in history - the average Bureau grant is $1,350. About 1,000 are expected to earn degrees - including 30 Ph.D. degrees. Students are enrolled in more than 700 institutions of higher education.