“As tribal nations, we ultimately want to ensure our nations’ youth can access our ancestral-community knowledge and STEM training in supportive and innovative ways.”

— Sammy Matsaw, Shoshone-Bannock Fisheries research biologist and co-director of River Newe.

Cultivating Relationships (CR) is a multiyear learning process where K-12 teachers partner with Tribal Nations and University researchers to examine the relationships between people, place, lands, and waters.

CR teachers engage in land-based and on-line professional learning to design and apply curriculum that serves Indigenous students and ensures sustainable futures for all learners in K-12 classrooms.

Past research has shown STEM lessons ignore Indigenous principles that shaped thousands of years of sustainable land management practices. By centering Indigenous lessons and relationships with land in K-12 lesson planning, the project seeks to bridge the long-standing disconnect in American classrooms.

For questions or more information, contact Angela Como Jacobson, at acomojacobson@uidaho.edu or 208-885-0175.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2201148. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.