Volume 41 2002 Contents
Steven R. Aragon [pp. 1-18]
In this first of a three part series examining the learning styles of postsecondary American Indian/Alaska Native students, the environmental and social factors that maintain student motivation for learning were investigated. A total of 206 American Indian students attending community colleges in the southwest participated in the study. The three instruments selected to measure maintenance of motivation included the Friedman and Stritter Instructional Preference Questionnaire, the Riechmann and Grasha Student Learning Style Scales, and the Rezler and Rezmovic Learning Preference Inventory. The major finding was that students preferred teacher-structured environments consisting of feedback, active roles, and use of media. However, well-facilitated student-structured environments are encouraged as well. Students also revealed the belief they must compete with one another for the rewards that are offered which contradicts cultural values and behaviors. Based on the results, recommendations of facilitating teacher- and student-structured environments that establish and maintain student motivation are provided.
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James S. Cole and Gypsy M. Denzine [pp. 19-34]
The purpose of the current study was to compare the dimensions of student academic engagement between American Indian and White college students. The conceptual framework underlying this research project were the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education developed by Chickering and Gamson (1987). For the purpose of the present study, we limited our analyses to the items in the College Student Experience Questionnaire (Pace, 1998) that measure three of the seven principles related to student experiences and involvement in the college environment. These three principles include Active Learning Techniques, Student-Faculty Contact, and Cooperation Among Students. Overall, there were no significant differences between American Indian and White students and their academic engagement. In addition, both American Indian and White students report relative high levels of satisfaction with their collegiate experience.
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Barbara Perry [pp. 35-55]
In spite of - or perhaps because of - the insertion of the rhetoric of difference and equality into the university environment, campus ethnoviolence remains a persistent threat to minority students. This paper addresses the particular experiences of American Indian students, through a discussion of the findings of a Campus Ethnoviolence survey conducted at a university that serves a large American Indian student body. The findings indicate that while cases of violent assaults are rare, daily harassment and verbal assaults are relatively common. The paper concludes with ways in which universities and students might intervene to recreate an environment that is more safe and welcoming for American Indian students.
- Special Issue
- Celebrating 30 years of American Indian Higher Education 1972-2002
- PREFACE [pp. 1]
The Journal of American Indian Education is pleased to publish the first of two special issues celebrating and honoring Naïve controlled higher education. These issues also commemorate the 30-year anniversary of the founding of The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) by the presidents of the nation’s first six tribal colleges. For this first special issue, indigenous scholar, Dr. Maenette Benham of Michigan State University is our guest editor. She has gathered together five unique stories about engaged learning and leadership that evolved from the Native American Higher Education Initiative (NAHEI), funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. She introduces the five stories with an accounting of how the project evolved, who participated, and what was learned. Following the stories, Dr. Henrietta Mann, project elder, of Montana State University, reflects on the significance of the work associated with them. - INTRODUCTION - Bringing Out the Stories: Lessons About Engagement
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Maenette K. P. Benham [pp. 2-8]
- THE STORY OF THE HAWAIIAN STUDIES CENTER ON THE BRIGHAM YOUNG
UNIVERSITY-HAWAI’I CAMPUS
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Maenettte K. P. Benham [pp. 9-18]
With an advisory committee of native community members, elders, educators and students, the center has successfully founded (within a mainstream institution with strong religious foundations) a cultural center of scholarship and learning that teaches native values and language, and creates cultural-educational projects that involve community organizations and are founded on caring for the land and the sea. (Jonathan Napela Center for Hawaiian Language and Cultural Studies, 55-220 Kulanui Street, Laie, HI 96762, www.byuh.edu. - THE STORY OF DISTANCE LEARNING AT SALISH KOOTENAI COLLEGE
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Wayne J. Stein, Mike Jetty [pp. 19-28]
The Eagle Project is a compelling example of successful partnerships involving a tribal college, mainstream institutions (Evergreen State College, University of Montana, and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology), and private/public businesses to design, install and deliver, and evaluate distance-education programs to tribes that do not have tribal colleges. The program teaches lessons in effective strategic planning and partnering, culturally relevant pedagogy, and means of offering economically sustainable programs. (P.O. Box 117, Pablo, MT 59855, www.skc.edu) - FAMILY EDUCATION MODEL: MEETING THE STUDENT RETENTION
CHALLENGE
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Iris HeavyRunner, Richard DeCelles [pp. 29-37]
The Fort Peck Family Education Service Model is a powerful family-centered, culturally appropriate program for marginal and disadvantaged students. At its beginning, the project included the participation of Blackfeet Community College, Salish Kootenai College, Stone Child College, and the University of Montana. The success of this family-centered model has been replicated in native/tribal communities as far away as Florida and Canada. (P.O. Box 348, Poplar, MT 59255, www.fpcc.cc.mt.us) - THE OKSALE STORY: TRAINING TEACHERS FOR SCHOOLS SERVING
AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES
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D. Michael Pavel, Susan Rae Banks, Susan Pavel [pp. 38-47]
To attend to the vital need for Native American teachers in public, tribal, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and private schools (particularly in the Pacific Northwest, the Oksale Native Teacher Preparation Program is a collaboration involving Northwest Indian College, Washington State University, and Western Washington University to provide both an undergraduate and master’s level native teacher certification component. Thus far, the partnership has resulted in a K-secondary school endorsement. (2522 Kwina Road, Bellingham, WA 98226, www.nwic.edu) - THE STORY OF CROWNPOINT INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND ITS
ALTERNATIVE LIVESTOCK PROGRAM
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Matthew Van Alstine, Elizabeth Murakami Ramalho, Timothy Sanchez [pp. 48-57]
To foster economic growth in the communities that Crownpoint serves (part of the Navajo Nation), this initiative has developed networks among educational, industrial, and nonprofit organizations. By promoting the sharing of knowledge between Navajo medicine men and veterinarians, Crownpoint has developed high quality training, employment, and small business management in alternative livestock and animal health/range management. (P.O. Box 849, Crownpoint, NM 87313, www.cit.cc.num.us) - Conclusion: Elder Reflections
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Henrietta Mann [pp. 58-60]
- Issue 3 2002
- HEALING THE "UNHEALTHY NATIVE:" ENCOUNTERS WITH STANDARDS-BASED
EDUCATION IN RURAL ALASKA
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Timothy E. Jester [pp. 1-21]
This qualitative study presents an in-depth analysis of standards-based educational reform in an Alaskan rural school district with schools in Alaska Native villages and non-Native communities during the 2000-2001 school year. This study was undertaken to understand the district’s standards-based reform in sociohistorical context by eliciting the perspectives of the district’s staff members involved in the implementation process. The findings of the study indicate that the district had recast the historical civilization-savagism paradigm in an “unhealthy Native” construct that functioned to explain Alaska Native students’ academic failure and protect the district’s standards-based system and successful reputation. Implications for Alaska Natives, educational research, and educational policy are discussed. Specifically, the findings of this study indicate a need for additional research on the school as a site of struggle and development of educational policy that facilitates culturally relevant pedagogy. - LEARNING STYLES OF AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN NATIVE STUDENTS: A
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
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Cornel Pewewardy [pp. 22-56]
A review of theories, research, and models of the learning styles of American Indian/Alaska Native students reveals that American Indian/Alaska Native students generally learn in ways characterized by factors of social/affective emphasis, harmony, holistic perspectives, expressive creativity, and nonverbal communication. Underlying those approaches are assumptions that American Indian/Alaska Native students have been strongly influenced by the language, culture, and heritage, and that American Indian/Alaska Native children’s learning styles are different – but not deficient. Implications for interventions include recommendations for instructional practice, curriculum organization, assessment, and suggestions for future research.
- HEALING THE "UNHEALTHY NATIVE:" ENCOUNTERS WITH STANDARDS-BASED
EDUCATION IN RURAL ALASKA
* Page Numbers refer to location in the original published version of the article.
