Solving Environmental Problems through Engineering

Context

Our school is under the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), classified as a K-8^th Elementary School located in a rural area, about 17 miles east of the nearest city. Our student population is 100% Native American in ethnicity, coming predominantly from the Navajo or Diné tribe. Because of the geographic location of our school, the school is able to serve five Navajo Nation communities within its boundary. The school campus is fifteen years old now with many of the facilities still in good condition. The school serves K-8th grades, including a Family and Child Education program. The school has a population this past year of 424 students. As for our student body academically, we have 16% Special Education students, 98% designated English Language Learners (ELL), 10% Gifted and Talented (GT) students. Demographics also include a majority of students coming from low socio-economic families, which allows for a 100% free lunch program qualification.¹ On an annual basis, about 10% of the student population enroll in the residential program. The residential program houses students during the week but students return home for the weekends and holidays. The other 90% of the population are day students that either ride the bus, are dropped off by parents or are walkers from the nearby community of Ft. Wingate. According to school enrollment documents, more than a quarter of the student population are being raised by extended family members or under foster care.

This unit is planned for my 8^th grade homeroom science class for a duration of three weeks. There are usually about 58 to 65 students enrolled in 8^th grade from ages 12 -15. Since our data indicates a majority of the student population classifying, as English Language Learners (ELL) then I would estimate about 60 of my students will be in this category. This information is important in developing my curriculum because I would need to incorporate ELL strategies into my lessons. The schedule for middle school 6^th through 8^th grade is semi-departmentalized. Students have five periods with Math, English Language Arts (ELA), Science, Social Studies and an elective class. In the Middle school section, classes are 55 minutes long for each core subject and 30 minutes of intervention classes for Math, ELA, and Science. Students rotate between these core classes in the morning. In the afternoons, they stay in their homeroom for social studies or science class. The schedule is strategically plan this way so teachers would have more time with their homeroom students and get to know them as individuals. Thus, teachers play a very important role in a student’s life not only academically, but also in supporting the development of our student’s characteristics and their holistic well-being.

The beginning of the year overall Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) science assessment data shows our 8^th grade students are in the Low category; 70% in Low Average, 20% in Average, 9% in HI Average, and 1% in HI category.² This data demonstrates a need in supporting our students in learning more about the science around them.

Another important factor regarding my student data information is their cultural background. We are at a point where our youth are losing their cultural knowledge, language, clan system, and Diné Way of Life understanding. What can we do to bring back the pride of living in a world of the beauty way (Hozho)? There is a need for a different approach of instruction. Thus, culturally responsive instruction is an important strategy in supporting our Navajo students in their achievement of academic success. Culturally responsive schooling has been a topic of discussion between the Federal, Navajo Tribal, and State Governments. Within these discussions there has yet to be a specific policy or foundation to guide schools in defining a culturally responsive curriculum for the future of our Navajo children. So, regardless of whether schools operate on or off the Navajo reservation, in the same way that schools are accountable to the state and federal governments, so too should they be accountable to the Navajo Nation. Today, this vision, is still not being fully acknowledged by most school systems serving our Navajo children. In most cases, schools are in the beginning stages of adjusting their curriculum to the meet the needs our Navajo youth. To address this need for my students, it is the basis of my unit to instruct an environmental science engineering issue of single use plastic using cultural relevancy to deepen the understanding of the environmental impact and in the process bridging the knowledge of our cultural heritage. If we can address environmental issues in a relevant meaningful way to our students, they will likely change some of their habits in the use of plastic in their home and maybe change their family’s usage as well. They need to be aware of the environmental issues in their community as well as global issues.