Volume 16 Number 2
January 1977

Albert J. Snow

The status of the American Indian, particularly the Navajo, is similar to that of new emerging nations in that all the problems associated with government, industrialization, land exploitation, education, social and cultural dislocation are present. The American Indian, while wishing to retain his unique identity and culture, is cognizant of the need to accommodate the dominant American contact society. In order to do this, Indian leaders have identified education as a highest priority. Peter MacDonald, Chairman of the Navajo Nation, has expressed an urgent need for engineers, doctors, teachers and technicians in order to handle the booming industrialization. But the educational program for Navajos has failed to produce the required numbers, and future projections are equally bleak. The problem then is in education, especially the lack of an effective approach to Indian education.

The educational acculturation of the American Indian has long been a perplexing and frustrating problem for educators in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Recent literature (see Note 1) reflects the notion that modern educational innovations which have had successful impact in schools across the country, have not been successful in Indian schools. Rationales offered by Indian educators for the failures have been abundant (see Note 2). Unfortunately, much of the proffered recommendations have not had the expected impact (see Note 3). It can be argued that science education must represent a vital part of any American Indian educational curriculum. One rationale is its importance in the alienation effect that main stream society, with its scientific and technological orientation, has on the Indians who enter that society unprepared. Toeffler might categorize this Indian subculture interface with main stream society as a form of educational and social culture shock (see Note 4).

The quest for a successful teaching strategy, approach or technique in Indian education that overcomes the problems of divergent cultures in contact and as a bonus identifies the gifted should be of great importance. One approach holding promise is that of ethnoscience (see Note 5).

The Navajo culture is unique in that it has accepted, modified and improved many ideas, materials and values of other contact cultures. At the same time, it has somehow managed to retain its vigorous Navajo identity. The original ideas, materials and values which at first glance may be considered non-Navajo become, after a time, distinctly Navajo. As an illustration consider the introduction of sheep by Spain to the Navajo area. One by-product, wool, which goes into the making of the famous Navajo rugs, was a material not found in the Southwest prior to its introduction by Spanish settlers. The weaving and dyeing technique used to create these rugs are uniquely Indian and have evolved over a long period of time. With this acculturation process in mind, an ethno-science evolves from a pragmatic Navajo technology which in turn is related to cultural and religious beliefs.

The relative delicate matter of utilizing ethno-science topics, materials and ideas in the classroom stems from the sensitivity that the Navajo holds for his culture and religion. This poses a problem for non-Indian teachers who utilize ethno-material in educational situations since many cannot grasp the complexity to Navajo life style and culture.

The use of ethno-science within the context of modern science seems deceptively simple, however, Navajo technology has never advanced from the practical stage to the theoretical or abstract stage. Therefore, utilizing ethno-science materials to develop theoretical and empirical formulations must be treated with caution. The larger issue becomes one of effective communication with familiar materials of the Indian in order to achieve educational goals.

This approach utilizes culture-related materials in science courses as a vehicle for concept learning. Ethno-science has been defined as American Indian technology blended with myth and the past and present life experiences of the American Indian (see Note 6). This approach emphasizes the life and environmental aspects of science.

A short time ago I became involved in research to determine the educational effectiveness of ethno-science on the academic achievement of Navajo students in hopes that the data and inferences generated by the research would be of value to Navajo science educators and possibly American Indian education (see Note 7). The specific development and use of ethno-science in education owes its origins to those conditions that generate what might be termed the present status of the American Indian. Understanding and clarifying this status represents a difficult undertaking because of the complex inter-relationship of Indian culture, society, economy and Indian education. Historical overviews tend to show nearly 400 years of educational, social and economic abuse directed toward the American Indian. This neglect can be shown to be partly responsible for the negative attitudes and poor response of American Indians toward any formal institution such as a school. In extreme cases, as in the Wounded Knee incident and 1973 BIA takeover, hostility and violence became the outward manifestation of the deep-seated frustration harbored by the American Indian.

A Navajo ethno-science seems to have evolved from projects done by Carl Hime and his Navajo students in such things as: ecological studies of Black Mesa, and microbiological studies of the hogan and animal corral (see Note 8). The ethno-science projects and approach tended to develop a healthy self-concept for Indian students since they see their culture and themselves in a beautiful and vital perspective (see Note 9).

At the time of the study I speculated if ethno-science projects generated an interest and motivation in gifted students who up to this time lacked direction, or if the "gifted and talented" Indian student "turned on" to science in spite of it. I never did find an answer to this in the study, and the speculation still remains.

It was obvious that the ethno-science project approach identified "gifted and talented" students. Typical projects were:

• Black Mesa ecology and the effect of coal strip mining
• Eye shape and stimulus response of Indian and non-Indian
• Bacterial inhibitors in reservation dog saliva
• Distribution of blood types of Indians on the reservation

The students who researched them seemed to be the type educators would identify as gifted. But this is only a supposition, and it puts me on shaky ground educationally.

The identification of "gifted and talented" is a problem at any time, and yet it is much greater when two widely dissimilar cultures are involved. It is further complicated when one of the cultures has a different language, religion, life style and view of the world. One cannot oversimplify basic cultural differences since language and way of thinking of the Navajo is not similar to that of Western society, especially in certain abstract and conceptual cognitive modes.

To illustrate this, I am reminded of some anecdotes related to me by Dr. Fred Young about his early childhood. Dr. Young is a leading physicist at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories (LASL) and directs laser research in thermonuclear reactions. The only Navajo Ph.D. in physics, he attended BIA and mission schools and eventually received a high school certificate in agriculture from the Albuquerque Indian School. While there, he was told that he wasn’t smart enough to become anything. It would be best if he became a farmer, and indeed he did. Only by chance did his true "gifted" ability emerge and his indomitable spirit allow him to succeed.

The very gifted Dr. Young, although at ease with scientific thinking and process, claims to have difficulty in communicating some ideas in English. This is so because he considers these thoughts and sense perceptions to be first put into the Navajo context and cognitive process--worked out--and then retranslated into English, which sometimes has no Navajo equivalent. This was especially true of abstract ideas, so the frustrating process forced Dr. Young to develop a "third" language of mathematical and scientific formulations (a form of mathematical linguistics) which becomes a basic thought process avoiding confusing English definitions. This new language is being taught on an informal basis to bright, young, promising Navajo students by Dr. Young. He feels the third language simply avoids the communication gap (understanding gap might be better) between the two cultures.

How many other Fred Youngs walk the Navajo, their abilities untapped, their value to society (both Navajo and Western) curtailed?

The research conducted at Many Farms High School showed that achievement is somewhat enhanced when the number of ethno-science exemplars (actual examples of materials and topics of Navajo culture, categorized as concrete, representative or symbolic and further described relative to the sense perceptions) is increased (see Note 10). This research only scratched the surface, raising many questions and leaving many questions unanswered. At this point only a start has been made, but this infusion of ethno-science in the science curriculum may be one approach or direction that will work.

1. Herbert A. Aurbach, et al., The Status of American Indian Education (Pennsylvania State University, 1970).

2. Madison L. Coombs, The Educational Disadvantage of the Indian American Student (New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, 1970).

3. U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Indian Education: A National Tragedy-A National Challenge, S. Res. 80, 91st Cong. Ist Sess., 1969.

4. AIvin Toeffler, Future Shock (New York: Random House Inc., 1969).

5. Albert J. Snow, "American Indian Ethno-Science," The Journal of American Indian Education, 12, No. 1 (October 1972): 15-20.

6 "Ethno-Science in American Indian Education," The Science Teacher, 39, No. 7 (October 1972): 30-32.

7 "American Indian Ethno-Science: A Study of Its Effects on Student Achievement" (Ed.D. dissertation, University of Maryland, 1974).

8. Carl Hime, Untitled report on Science Activities, document, Many Farms High School, Many Farms, Arizona, Jan. 18, 1972 (mimeographed).

9. Snow, "Ethno-Science in American Indian Education."

10. Snow, dissertation.