Since May of this year, a number of subscribers to the NativeNet mailing
lists have been discussing the idea of initiating a project to establish
links among K-12 students for the purpose of their learning about indigenous
peoples. We have talked at length, mostly by means of the NAT-EDU list (via
"listserv@indycms.iupui.edu"), which I helped bring into being and now
manage, and via a special-purpose mailing list called "nn.outreach," which I
created this past spring, about various kinds of projects that we might work
on together for this purpose. We have talked about the idea of a fairly
open kind of forum that would permit Native and non-Native students to
engage in dialogue about various aspects of the lives and cultures of
indigenous peoples, and a few of us had an in-person meeting at which we
agreed to work toward creating a forum limited to students who have a Native
background, which we felt would have some advantages for those students over
the more open kind of arrangement. We talked about creating (for both kinds
of project just mentioned) curricula, under the guidance of persons within
the communities whose cultures would be the subject of study, and compiling
supplemental resources, such as reading lists and multi-media materials
which would be available from gopher and World Wide Web (WWW) archive
servers and possibly on CD-ROM media that we would work together to create
(we are fortunate to have within our network community people who have the
technical skills and experience necessary to produce multi-media materials
and record them onto CD-ROM disks).
I have made a personal decision to put most of my own efforts into the
Native-to-Native kinds of educational project mentioned above, which it
now looks may take a while to plan and initiate. At the time I announced
this decision to the NativeNet community, I also mentioned that the NAT-EDU
and nn.outreach lists would be available for the use of anyone who might
like to organize and operate the other (unrestricted) kind of project. But
I see projects like the one described below as having value for the students
who take part in them, and would like to do what I can to help them be as
successful as possible in achieving worthy goals.
At the end of August, a message was submitted to the NATIVE-L list
describing a project conceived independently of our own efforts by some
high school teachers in Australia who had not previously known about or
been subscribed to any of the NativeNet lists. One of these teachers,
Rex Boggs had agreed to find out what might be available via Internet
that could serve as resources for the class.
Following is a copy of that message and a number of others which have been
sent to various mailing lists and to people who have expressed an interest
in the kind of educational project which has been initiated by Rex's fellow
teacher, Peter Slaughter. I am making this information available in hopes
that some subscribers to the NativeNet lists might become interested in this
project and that some might be willing to help the students involved, who
will be at Peter's school and at other schools in other parts of the world,
to understand dimensions of the subjects they are studying that might not
otherwise be apparent to them. I think this project could also provide a
valuable learning experience for people who take part in such a capacity.
A series of mailing lists have been set up on a machine in Australia which
will be used to facilitate communications among the participants in the
project and their "mentors." My understanding is that anyone is welcome
to join any of the lists as a "lurker," and that anyone who cares to add
her/his voice to the discussions can do so (but it might be good to check
with Rex Boggs or Peter Slaughter, whose addresses appear below, if you
have any questions about participating or any other aspect of the project).
The first message which appears below was sent to the NATIVE-L list by
B Frederique Samuel (bfsamuel@vm.cc.purdue.edu), and was passed on to me by
Jay Brummett, who is currently moderating the NATIVE-L and NATCHAT lists.
As the result of posting this request for participants, mainly in the form
of advisors for the project, to several mailing lists, Rex Boggs has
collected the names and e-mail addresses of a number of people who have
agreed to take on an advisory role, as well as those of a couple of teachers
who are interested in having their own classes take part in the project.
I had some initial concerns about this project, feeling that when a mixed
indigenous and non-indigenous student population is taking part in a project
together, it may be necessary to be rather careful in framing the questions
the students are being asked to investigate and research, in order that
unintentional offense not be given to the people and cultures being studied.
(It seems a bit tricky to study the culture of a portion of a given group of
students, particularly when the relationship between the societies involved
has been as problematical as is the case involved with indigenous and
non-indigenous societies occupying the same territory.) However, after
reading the plan for approaching the questions the students are being
asked to research and report on, my concerns have been lessened. It seems
that Peter and Rex do not intend that students engage in a "many-to-many"
kind of discussion of the sort that we have by means of NativeNet lists
like NATCHAT, which have the potential to erupt into "flame wars."
A few messages of introduction have been posted thus far from the kids
in Australia, and they're the fairly innocent "pen-pal" kinds of things
that are typical for these undertakings - just "Hi, I'm so-and-so and
here's something about me and my hobbies and interests."
The initial project, described below, appears to be fairly well defined and
focussed narrowly enough so that meaningful results should be possible and
the likelihood of some of my fears being realized may in fact be minimal.
(The project involves looking at the relationship between various indigenous
cultures and the natural environment, and it asks "[what can] indigenous
people teach us about caring for the environment?," which starts with an
implicit assumption that there is in fact something to be learned from
indigenous peoples, which is probably not a bad idea, and has the potential
to learn other things about indigenous peoples' societies in the process.)
So, "without further ado," here are a series of messages which provide
the necessary background for understanding the Glenmore High School
project. Instructions on subscribing to the mailing lists being used
for the project will be given at the end of this collection of articles.
Whatever comes of this project, I feel it should be a good learning
experience for all who are involved, in one way or another. (My own
interests are to learn how to conduct one of these exchanges, to improve
the likelihood of success of experiments along these lines in future.)
In order to take part, either as a lurker or a member of the exchange,
please subscribe to one or more of the mailing lists described at the
end of this article.
Gary
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Subject: World Cultures project
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 1994 22:47:44 -1000
Our year 9 geography class is beginning a unit on indigenous people
early in October. We would like to establish an email project on
this topic with other schools, especially those that have indigenous
people as part of their school population. We have both Australian
aboriginals and South Sea islanders in our population.
Our students are 13 to 14 years old. We would prefer it if
corresponding classes were roughly in the same age group.
The exact format of the project can be negotiated. Generally, we
will ask the students to research an indigenous people. The email
connection can personalise the research, and transform it from a
purely academic study to one that engages the heart as well as the
mind.
One model would be for research groups to consist of one or more
students from each participating school. They would cooperate in
gathering and sharing information. They could report jointly, or
individually, at the end of the project.
Alternatively, students could work independently and use each other
as a resource. For example, one of your students could ask one of
our students for information on Australian aboriginals, and vice
versa.
We have an offline Internet news and mail system at our school. All
students and the teacher will have their own Net address, and thus
can send and receive mail directly.
To discuss the project further, please contact me at:
rex@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au
Cheers
Rex Boggs
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Subject: World Cultures Project
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 1994 07:52:12 +1000 (EST)
G'day all
A copy of this letter is being posted to the following people and
mailing lists. All of the people have responded to my original
letter. Gary has subscribed me to the Native-L and Nat-Edu mailing
lists.
[ Rex is presently subscribed only to the NAT-EDU list. --Gary ]
Gary Trujillo gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Denis Viri dviri@pimacc.pima.edu
Evonne Kouba cdecatur@pu-1.star.k12.ia.us
Keith Shackleton supervisor@cbc.wcape.school.za
NATIVE-L mailing list native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us
NAT-EDU mailing list nat-edu@gnosys.svle.ma.us
First, thanks for your replies. The geography subject master and the
teacher are enthused by this project. I'm sure the kids will be also
once the unit has begun.
We have more clearly defined our objectives, and the process for
meeting them. I'd like to run this past you, and invite your
response. You may wish to send replies to all of the people above,
so everyone who wishes to be involve is informed.
The class consists of 17 very enthusiastic year 9 students, aged 13
to 14. The unit is on Indigenous People. The specific topic is:
What can indigenous people teach us about caring for our environment?
The outcome of the project is an individual report by each student.
The students may gather information collectively, but must produce
their own report.
Each student must choose one indigenous group upon which their report
is based. We have some information on Pygmies, the Bushman of the
Kalahara, the Kayapu (in Brazil) and the Xingu (in Brazil). This
information comes in large part from past issues of National
Geographic, and encyclopedias. I think we should have a fair bit of
information about Maoris in New Zealand.
We are interested in other cultures, but have little information
available in the school. We would like to have some students
studying native American cultures, for example. The class has
already studied the Inuits in Canada, so would probably not wish to
study that group again.
There are three ways of involving Net partners.
First, there may be students in other schools who would like to work
as part of a team with some of our students. Each team member could
do independent research, and the partners would share their results
of their research. They would post drafts of their reports to each
other for comment.
Second, there may be some indigenous students who will help with
their research by answering questions. In exchange our students
would be willing to help with information about Australian
aboriginals.
Third, there may be some adult experts with Net access who would be
willing to act as mentors. Our students would write an introductory
letter. They would then send a second letter asking specific
questions. They would post a first draft of their report for
comment. Finally they would send a copy of their final report, along
with a big 'Thank You' for the help they received.
Not all students or groups of students need to have the same Net link
as others. Some could be working jointly with other students, while
some may have a mentor.
>From my own Net account, we have access to FTP and Gopher, and text-
based WWW. We can send and receive .UUE binary files.
All students will be given an off-line Internet email address. Mail
is normally sent and received twice a day.
This project is due to start on Oct 3, just after our two-week spring
break. It will probably take the students a week to choose their
group and compose their first letter. Once we see what response we
get we will fix the dates for other postings. The final report will
probably be due in early December.
********
Are there other cultures that we can study? We would need to get
some information about those cultures, in a form understandable by a
year 9 student. Are there any experts reading this that are willing
to help? If you know of someone who is an expert, could you please
pass this letter on? Thanks.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Rex Boggs (rex@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au)
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Subject: Indigenous people and the environment
Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 02:30:17 GMT
Mailing List: NAT-EDU
*******************************************************************
Please email: Rex Boggs (rex@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au). Do not reply to
the newsgroup or mailing list.
*******************************************************************
Our year 9 Geography class consists of 17 very enthusiastic students,
aged 13 to 14. Early in October, they will be starting a unit on
Indigenous People and the Environment. The specific topic is: What
can indigenous people teach us about caring for our environment?
Each student must choose one indigenous group upon which their study
will be based. We have some information on the following groups:
Pygmies (Africa), San (Kalahari Desert), Inuit (Canada), Hopi (SW
US), Navajo (SW US), Chinook (NW US), Tlingit (NW US), Maya (Central
America), Arawak (Amazon), Kayapo (Amazon), Xingu (Amazon), Tukano
(Amazon), Wayana (Amazon), Karen (SE Asia), Fulani (Saraha), Maoris
(New Zealand) and the Maasai (Africa).
While the students' projects are not confined to these groups, we
would need some information about other cultures if the students are
to choose from outside of this list.
We are hoping to use the Net to find mentors or colleagues for these
students. More precisely....
Are there any experts in Cyberspace willing to act as a mentor to one
(or a small group) of our students?
Are there any students who are members of an indigenous population,
willing to share their knowledge and experiences on this topic with
our students?
Are there any teachers who would like their classes (or a few members
of their class) to become involved in this project? For example,
students from two or more schools could study the same group and
share the results of their research.
These possibilities are not mutually exclusive. For example, there
could be a team of three students and a mentor, all from different
countries, involved in the same study. Any correspondence would be
sent to all members of the group for comment.
Not all students or groups of students need to have the same Net link
as others. Some could be working jointly with other students, while
some may be corresponding with a mentor.
>From my own Net account, we have access to FTP and Gopher, and text-
based WWW. We can send and receive .UUE binary files.
The geography teacher and students all have an off-line Internet
email address. Mail is normally sent and received twice a day.
This project is due to start on Oct 3. The final report will be due
in early December.
If you can help, please write to the address below. Also, please
circulate this request to any person who you think may be interested
in being involved in this project.
Hoping to hear from some of you soon.
Rex
*******************************************************************
Please email: Rex Boggs (rex@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au). Do not reply to
the newsgroup or mailing list.
*******************************************************************
-- ----------------------------------- Rex Boggs rex@cq-pan.cqu.edu.auGlenmore High School Rockhampton, Queensland Australia -----------------------------------
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Subject: Indigenous People project Date: Sat, 24 Sep 1994 08:10:45 +1000 (EST)
G'day all
We have had a fantastic response to our request for mentors for our geography class who will be studying 'What indigenous people can teach us about caring for our environment'. We also have a few other students involved, and maybe some classes, although that isn't certain at this stage. Thanks to everyone for replying.
First, here is a list of people who have written to me about this project. I've included some info on which particular groups they have interest/knowledge in, if it is known. Please let me know if my data is incorrect or incomplete.
*****
Denis Viri Director of Tribal Relations, Pima Community College, Tucson AZ Yaqui, Tohono O'odham, Navajo and Hopi nations dviri@pimacc.pima.edu
Keith Shackleton 7th year teacher, Christian Brothers College, Cape Town, South Africa shacklet@cbc.wcape.school.za
Evonne Kouba Central Decatur High School Leon, Iowa has a few 14 year old students that are interested cdecatur@po-1.star.k12.ia.us
Gary S. Trujillo Owner of NAT-EDU mailing list gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Anna ?? Doctoral student studying environmental laws in Iquitos, Peru amheit01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
Larry Parsons; Noreen Robinson Librarian, Ilwaco Jr/Sr High School; museum librarian Chinook Indians booker@guest.nwnet.net
Beverly Smith Osborne head of the Media Center at the Junior-senior high school in Sells- Baboquivari School District the Tohono O'odham no email address yet
Andrew McLeod, email contact for Peter Manins Social studies teacher at THAMES HIGH SCHOOL. situated in the North Island of New Zealand. Andrew.Mcleod.1@uni.massey.ac.nz
Peter Nuttall Research Associate for Tainui Maori Trust Board. Tainui is the largest Maori tribe in Aotearoa(aka New Zealand). Maori pnuttall@waikato.ac.nz
Rene A. Dolbec has contact with the Tlingit people rdolbec@seattleu.edu
Therese Sarah (Sarah, Therese) degree in cultural anthropology, currently working for Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory in Aurora, Colorado US. Yanomamo of Brazil and Venezuela; Navaho and Tlingit; has a 14 year old son who may wish to be involved... tsarah@mcrel.org
John Stepp Anthropology student at the University of Florida. Currently studying Mayan interactions with the environment. Most knowledgable about adaptations in the Yucatan area; has studied lowland interaction (i.e. Peten and Chiapas). Mayan eag@UFCC.UFL.EDU
Scott A. Derrickson Native-Hawaiian land use/environmental planner from the island of O`ahu. Hawaiian sderric@hinc.hawaii.gov
Bill Roberts Fulbe, Republic of Guinea Close friend in West Africa who has done work with the Bassari (small group on Senegal - Guinea/Conakry border) wroberts@lab1.smcm.edu
David Browneyes Ogala Sioux Tribal Member raised in Oglala SD on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Ogalala Sioux Istagi@aol.com
Teri Tsosie Organization: Earth Spirit Technology coordinator/teacher for a small school district located in Hermosa Beach, CA. Married to a Navajo, possibly has contact with another class that is interested. Navaho Teri_Tsosie@earthspirit.org
Freida Hammett, Media Specialist, Centerville Elementary, Anderson, SC !Kung (San) in deserts of Africa, various tribes in North America the Cuna Indians of the San Blas Islands of Panama fhammett@anderson.sc.fred.org
David Friesenhahn !Kung of the Dobe region in Africa. DAF0537@ACS.Tamu.edu
Norman Lundt Student from Tucson, Arizona; interested in being involved KarilynL@aol.com
Lisa Buccellato 13 year old geography student in South Africa San from the Kalahari desert pedro.buccellato@digitec.co.za (Pedro Buccellato)
******
What a diversity of people! A 'Net project of this scope is new for me, so I am excited to see how it evolves. After the project is finished, I'll write up a report on how it was organised, how it evolved, what worked and what didn't, and how it could be improved.
*****
Here is our plan, at this stage.
We resume school on Tuesday, October 4. We will probably make a decision soon after that about which groups the kids will study. We will have to choose groups about which we have some prior information, and at least one mentor willing to help. At this stage I am hoping to form Net Teams to study at least one group from Africa, the Maoris in New Zealand, a number of native American tribes, the Hawaiians, the Mayans and possibly a group from South America. This may be too ambitious, possibly.
In the first week, Net Teams will be formed, with each team concentrating on one indigenous group. Teams may consist of anything from one student corresponding with one mentor, to a group of kids corresponding with a group of mentors. At this stage, we will also set precise deadlines for each stage of the project.
Also in the first week we will introduce the kids to email, and assign to them their email addresses. They will write letters to their mentors (and other involved students) introducing themselves. We would hope the mentors (and fellow students) would write back fairly promptly, to reassure the kids that someone is there to help, and to confirm that the email link is established.
For the next few weeks, the kids will learn and practice research techniques while researching the local Aboriginal group. Towards the end of October or early November they will start their research on their indigenous group, using information available here at school. Students from other schools that are involved should be doing similar research at this stage. From this preliminary research they will formulate questions and hypotheses, which they will send to their Net partners. After the Net partners respond, the students will write their draft report, which they will send to their Net partners for comment. Based on these comments, they will then produce their final report. Finally, a big thank-you and a copy of the final report will be sent to the Net partners.
Please send me a short reply to confirm that this message has been received. If you have any questions, concerns or whatever at this stage, let me know.
Some Requests
When you write back to the kids, could you please send the geography teacher, Peter Slaughter (ghs17@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au) and myself a copy of your letter, as a safeguard. We'll archive them, in case the original goes missing.
If you have any suggestions please write to me about them. Discussion about the project will help us overcome problems before they become big, and help us to refine the concept for future projects.
Once the kids have sent their questions, the timelines will be fairly tight. We hope that you can respond reasonably promptly to the letters sent by the students.
Cheers
Rex
-- ----------------------------------- Rex Boggs rex@cq-pan.cqu.edu.auGlenmore High School Rockhampton, Queensland Australia -----------------------------------
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Following is a somewhat-edited copy of an information file for the project that says a bit more about how it is being conducted and how to subscribe to any or all of the mailing lists defined for that purpose:
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 94 19:09 EST
G'day and thanks for participating in the project .
This information file is common to all of the mailing lists. My apologies if you receive multiple copies of this file.
We wished to have at least two students from our school working together. Also, we felt that forming six groups was manageable. To accommodate this we have combined some indigenous groups, geographically. I hope this is appropriate. In choosing a name for these lists, we used the tribal name that was first in the list, alphabetically.
Following are the names of the mailing lists used for the project:
navajo SouthWestern US - Navajo, Tohono O'odham chinook Northern US - Chinook, Ogalala Sioux and Tlingit maori New Zealand hawaiian Hawaii guinea West Africa kung North Africa aboriginal Australia geog for administration and discussion about the project and a list containing all participants except the Glenmore High students.
To send a message to a mailing list, just use the mailing list address as given below in the To: line of your message.
navajo navajo@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au chinook chinook@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au maori maori@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au hawaiian hawaiian@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au guinea guinea@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au kung kung@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au aboriginal aboriginal@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au geog geog@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au
You may subscribe to any of these mailing lists using the instructions given at the end of this document. If you are unfamiliar with 'majordomo' commands, you should retain a copy of this document.
At this stage, each mailing list consists of a subset of the following people:
students from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the US
mentors, who have knowledge about indigenous people in that area
Peter Slaughter - the teacher of this enthusiastic group of kids
David Jones - system administrator of CQ-PAN at CQU.
lurkers - people who are observing the project, out of interest
myself - chief lurker, list(s) owner, shoulder to cry on, etc.
If you wish to see who is currently subscribed to a list, send the 'who' command to majordomo, as described in the List of Commands at the end of this document.
On Monday, October 10, the kids will meet in the computer room and send out their introductory messages. Many of them are newbies, and their accounts have only recently been created, so there will be some hitches. We will try to have every student successfully send their introductory message by Thu Oct 13.
[ It seems the class is running a bit behind schedule, since the school day of the 13th is already over in Australia, and only a few messages have been posted to any of the lists - so if you subscribe now, you should be able to pick up the remainder of the initiatory messages - and you can get the ones you've missed from the archives maintained by the "majordomo" mailing list system (I'll try to post instructions for doing so, once I've figured out the procedure myself. --Gary ]
I will be mailing more details about the project to the geog list shortly.
We would like everyone who is involved in the project, even the lurkers, to introduce themselves at the earliest opportunity. It will generate excitement about the project if the kids can see that there really are people 'out there' who are interested and willing to help, and other students the same age who are studying the same group.
Also, feel free to post unsolicited information to the mailing list that you think might be useful to the kids - eg background information about one of the groups in the area being studied. Some of our information is very much out of date,
Our motto is - Have Fun, Be Involved and Meet Some Very Nice People.
Cheers
Rex
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rex Boggs rex@cq-pan.cqu.edu.au This Space for Rent Glenmore High School Rockhampton, Queensland Australia --------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last updated Sun Oct 9 9:50:37 1994]
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Note from Gary Trujillo (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us):
In case there is any doubt about how to interpret the instructions given above, you can subscribe to all of the lists just by sending a message to the address "majordomo@bertha.cqu.edu.au" containing the text:
subscribe aboriginal subscribe chinook subscribe geog subscribe guinea subscribe hawaiian subscribe kung subscribe maori subscribe navajo
-- Gary S. Trujillo gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us Somerville, Massachusetts {wjh12,bu.edu,spdcc,cdp}!gnosys!gst