Envisioning the Science of Tomorrow
Current and future Indigenous educators are looking to carve a path for Native students in STEM fields.
Rocky shores along Birch Bay State Park where clam gardens are constructed and harvested when tides are low during a stormy day in Feb. 2024. // Photo by Austin Blacketer
Story by Elsa Lindenmeyr // Photos by Austin Blacketer
April 2, 2024
Jamie Donatuto, the environmental health specialist for the Swinomish Tribe, stood on the Lone Tree Point in the August sun with a group of Swinomish primary school students. The day began with a circle to check in with the students and do a blessing. They later listened to Sonni Tadlock, a descendant of the Colville Confederated Tribes and graduate student from Northwest Indian College. She taught them about the dangers of paralytic shellfish poisoning from shellfish in Skagit Bay. The students were adorned in lab coats, decorated with Indigenous designs they traced themselves earlier that week.
“Sonni asked the kids, ‘What do you think a scientist looks like?’ And they were like, ‘Oh you know, they wear these funny clothes, are usually old, they’re usually dudes, they usually have glasses, or they’re white,’” Donatuto said.
It’s no wonder that Indigenous students see scientists this way. Almost half of scientists and engineers working in their respective occupations are white men, and yet they only make up less than a third of the U.S. population, according to the National Science Foundation.
The day coincided with the Swinomish community clam bake that has annually occurred since time immemorial. The lesson was an informal activity for the children in attendance. To understand how paralytic shellfish poisoning works, the students participated in touch tanks, shellfish identification and learned the names of some shellfish in Lushootseed, the Swinomish language. They also watched as Tadlock tested for paralytic shellfish poisoning in some local mollusks.
At the end of the lesson, the students circled up and Tadlock asked them again what they thought a scientist looks like.
“A young woman of probably 10 stepped forward. And the young woman said ‘Me,”’ Donatuto said.
Donatuto has done extensive research and work promoting the importance of hands-on, place-based education for Indigenous youth. Some of this work includes the paralytic shellfish poisoning lessons and a program called the 13 Moons Curriculum, based on Swinomish knowledge and beliefs.
The 13 Moons Curriculum and similar Relationships, Enrichment, Academics, Community, and Homework (REACH) after school program—directed by Heather Lopez in Lisle, Washington—are becoming more widespread. The REACH program in particular saw a 50% increase in participation last fall. These programs create space for Indigenous students to learn about environmental sciences, math and other STEM topics, all through the lens of their indigenous knowledge.
“When it comes to math, science, reading, writing, art, physical education, you know, everything really, it all goes back to [Indigenous knowledge],” Lopez said.
Indigenous communities have long asked for their knowledge, land practices and philosophies to be considered in both political and academic realms, according to the National Congress of American Indians.
The Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledge and Science (CBIKS) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is already working to connect Indigenous knowledge from various peoples across the United States, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands with Western science. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation and created by Sonya Atalay with the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2023.
CBIKS recently received $120 million over five years to fund four new Science and Technology Centers across the country. They will provide research opportunities, networking and curriculums for Indigenous students from pre-Kindergarten through graduate school.
Campus of the Northwest Indian College on the Lummi Reservation. Northwestern Indian College provides higher education for indigenous people. CBIKS will continue and expand the work that Northwest Indian College has been doing for decades. // Photo by Austin Blacketer
Western Washington University's own Marco Hatch was selected to co-lead the Pacific Northwest Hub and is currently working on a project for the program that has yet to be announced. Hatch has done work and research on clam gardens and marine ecosystems as a member of the Samish Indian Tribe. Hatch felt isolated as the only Indigenous student to earn a doctorate in oceanography in his graduating class. CBIKS will hopefully be a way to reduce this experience for future Indigenous scientists.
“While you might be one of one at your institution, through CBIKS engagements, you’re meeting people that have walked that journey and navigated those spaces,” Hatch said.
CBIKS staff aim to contribute to addressing climate change, foster Indigenous food systems, and preserve ancestral sites. By working together these issues will be tackled not just by one Indigenous community, but by many.
Integration of Indigenous knowledge and communities with Western science isn’t the goal, according to Donatuto.
“We can’t simply integrate Indigenous knowledge into whatever you want to call the dominant Western paradigm,” Donatuto said. “When knowledges and ways of knowing have been inequitable for so long, you can’t just simply include something because whatever has been overlooked is often subsumed by whatever the dominant knowledge is”.
Donatuto has suggestions for programs like CBIKS on how to get it right.
“It’s less about research per se and more about relationships,” Donatuto said.
Many tribes have their own researchers like Donatuto, who are specialists in their fields. Often, if a tribe needs a scientific expert, they will seek one out themselves rather than accept research from scientists outside of their community.
Donatuto reminds Western scientists that their worldview isn’t the only one. She recommends that Western scientists, who often view the world through a smaller scientific lens, should take a couple of steps back to better engage with people who view the world differently.
The work that 13 Moons and REACH are doing, and the future work of CBIKS, is vital to the success of the next generation of Indigenous STEM students.
“These kids keep getting told that they don’t do science well, and that’s simply not the case. Science isn’t just Western science,” Donatuto said. “It’s their knowledge”
Sign at the Northwest Indian College describing a sensory garden and how it supports children’s STEM education, teaching them about scientific concepts hands-on. // Photo by Austin Blacketer
Elsa Lindenmeyr is a junior at Western studying environmental science with the intention of working in Indigenous resource management.
Austin Blacketer is a senior environmental policy student at Western with a goal to protect and showcase the world's natural wonders.