NOTE: Issues range from 1996–2006. Contact information in earlier issues could be outdated. For current information, please contact the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, 907-474-1902.
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Village Math: Romance by Alan Dick:While it is hardly "Sleepless in Seattle", Village Math (first draft) is my latest attempt. When students give us shoddy excuses for not completing an assignment, we often assign detention. If students had the same authority over teachers, most of us would spend a good portion of our lives in detention for the lousy excuses we offer in response to the honest question, "Why do I need to learn this math?" Village Math is not a math text. It doesn't pretend to cover all math standards or concepts. However, it does identify dozens of real life math applications faced by folks living in the bush. Young people will identify with the situations and with a little coaxing by teachers, they will see the importance. Village Math might not be a full-blown romance yet, but it openly flirts with students and teachers everywhere. Certainly some will respond. A first draft version of Village Math is on the ANKN website at www.ankn.uaf.edu/villagemath. Send me ideas of locally-relevant math ideas from your area and I will try to use them in the next draft. We must win student's hearts as well as stimulate their minds. | |
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Village Science by Alan Dick:Scientists flock to Alaska for our unique situations. Our opportunities are enviable and our students can and should be taking awards in national competitions, or better yet, should be developing a sense of excitement as they look at their local environments with a fresh viewpoint and curiosity. We don't necessarily need more answers, but need to discover the appropriate questions. Most of all, we need to learn from each other, especially in such a rich and diverse state as ours. How about if we start making video tapes of the projects that students prepare for the local science fairs? While good quality videos would be nice, even a poor product is better than none. A narrative by the camera person would help to overcome questions that arise from less than professional camera technique. The flow of ideas is what we need to foster. If people are interested, I would be willing to gather tapes from anyone willing to share, and edit them and make a final collection that would be available for exchange. I am sure many exciting things are happening, but as usual they are occurring in isolation. If you (teacher or students) are able to put together a video of the science fair in your school and are willing to share the results, please send it to me at P.O. Box 162, McGrath, Alaska 99627. I will make sure you get a copy of the final collection in return. | |
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Village Science by Alan Dick:My first fishwheel was a total embarrassment. I left it in the water in the falltime knowing that it would drift with the ice in the spring. The river raised, set the fishwheel on top of the bank and then the ice broke, leaving the fishwheel behind. I had to look at it for three more years until a merciful breakup removed the reminder of my addiction to ingenuity. Another time I built a boat. I wanted to see how a boat would run if it were very long and narrow. It paddled nicely, but when I put a small motor on it, I had to lay on the floor to pull the starter rope since it was so tippy. Once it got going, it was stable, but my heart pounded for several hours after I slowed down again to land. I decided that it was definitely unsafe so I let it drift thinking that someone would make a campfire with it in a driftwood pile someday. Two days later I heard a boat land in front of our cabin. Someone returned the boat thinking that they were doing me a favor. My addiction to ingenuity caught up with me again. I should have taken more time talking with people who understood boats or should have burned the thing. There have been other boats, stoves, sleds, houses and projects that had similar fates. I built a boat in Telida that had wings. I snuck to the river on the day of its maiden voyage, but the whole village appeared on the bank when I pushed out for its trial. I planned to skim on top of the water, even in shallow places, with the wide wing of my wing-boat. I had seen it many times in my mind. My wife suffered the embarrassment of being in the boat with me as we spun around and around in circles. We were barely able to move upstream. We growled at each other a bit, not loud enough for the villagers to hear, but strongly enough to vent-her mortification at being seen in such a boat, and me that my dream was refusing to enter reality. When I was told the theme of this newsletter is to acknowledge existing materials that are successful, I had many positive examples in mind, but was overcome by a compulsion to honesty. Some of my greatest visions worked well in the realm of imagination and balked when they encountered the scientific reality. Recently, I went through the warehouse of the local school district. I found many works, the dust of which has collected dust. Those materials were generated by people no less sincere than we are. They too had a vision and enthusiasm. Why aren't the materials in use? With some, the ideas were great, but the formatting was poor. With others the graphics left too much to be desired. With others the teachers' editions were not teacher friendly, and with others they seem to have been generated with a different spirit or vision. We are not the first ones to recognize the need for relevant curriculum and methods. However we must learn from those who have gone before us or we too will produce dust collectors. The test for a student is the scoring of the teacher-produced questions. Our test is whether our works continue to travel by themselves. Some previous works perished because their timing was wrong. They were gems before their time. I believe that some of the works with the thickest accumulation of dust have the greatest lessons. I have personally abandoned my addiction to innovation to want whatever is best for students, regardless of the source. Everything we need is already available from the minds of the elders, from the work of the past and the energies of those currently creating. We must gather it in the right way, the right spirit, and in the right time. Now is that time. | |
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Village Science by Alan Dick:A display of beautiful wood finishes in Anchorage had a large sign, "Do Not Touch." I had to put my hands in my pockets. The desire to touch the fascinating wood surfaces was too great. The sign was a strong indication that I wasn't alone in my desire to feel the grain under my fingertips. I wondered why funeral services often include individuals walking by the grave site and gently throwing a handful of dirt on the coffin. It seemed a strange custom until I experienced a few funerals. The ones where we individually put dirt on the coffin were far more real than the ones where we didn't. I realized the importance of handling the dirt. The person's passing became a reality. Denial was impossible. Handling a worksheet and a pencil are not the same as handling a slimy fish, a jagged rock or feeling the pressure on the rope of a block and tackle. Sticking a couple of toothpicks into a carrot top and suspending it in and over a glass of water is hardly hands-on science, but at least there is some physical interaction with the reality of the event. Touching, handling, feeling and sensing are unmeasurably important to processing science content and concepts. Do we know the difference between physical education and history class? In physical education we are physically active. In history class we read about other peoples' activities. It is important to learn about the science other people have done as a model for our own experiments and efforts. But that is history! If we want to promote science that stays alive and remains a reality in students' minds and hearts, we must recognize the difference between history and discovery, then honor the student's right to personal explorations and conclusions from touching, handling, feeling and sensing every possible aspect of the science event. | |
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Village Science by Alan Dick:One particular January night, most of the people had gone home, but Matfi remained. I grew nervous. The level of kerosene in our only lamp was dropping below the level of the short wick. I glanced often at the lamp wondering when he was going to leave, but he chatted on. I was too embarrassed to admit that we had no more kerosene and didn't know how to tell him it was time to go home. Finally Matfi told me, "Your wick is burning." Indeed, we were burning cotton, not kerosene. I broke down and admitted that we had no more kerosene. Matfi pulled a small flashlight from his pocket, handed it to me, blew out the charred wick and unscrewed the base that held the wick and chimney of the lamp. He went to the water bucket and filled the dipper with water. When he came towards the lamp with the dripping dipper, I flinched and said, "That's water!" (As if he didn't know.) He gently poured the water into the base of the lamp until the kerosene floated on the water, two inches higher than it's previous level. He reassembled the lamp, lit it again and left. With the wick bathed again in kerosene, we could have visited several hours more. It was so simple and yet so profound. I have often wondered where Matfi learned that. I am certain that it wasn't in science class or from a book, as he had never been to school. He had no idea of immiscability or specific gravity, yet he made the connections to arrive at the synthesis and application of significant knowledge. That event, 30 years ago, was one of my introductions to village science. | |
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Village Science by Alan Dick:For years I wondered why, in landing an airplane, passing through a cloud layer causes such turbulence. I thought extensively about clouds, condensation, density, vapor and other factors. I couldn't think of anything about the nature of a cloud layer that could shake an airplane. Finally I realized that clouds and turbulence are the result of a third unseen factor. Clouds form when layers of warmer air and colder air interact. The clouds do not cause the turbulence. The interaction of the two distinct layers of air does. That sounds too simple now that I look back. However, the inability to identify the problem and ask the right questions has hindered many a solution. For years I have watched old timers in the villages. They are seldom stuck. They step back from the problem and look at the whole situation. Example The outboard motor needs a water pump. We might think we are stuck. If we get a bigger picture and think, "I need to pick berries. How can I get to the berry patch?" there are many solutions. The need to pick berries is the problem. Fixing the broken outboard is only one possible way of getting to the berry patch. Maybe someone else needs to pick berries. They have a boat and motor but no gas. Together we have a better answer. Maybe that is why the outboard was broken. We have a need to do something together. Old timers know how to step back from a problem and see the real matter at hand. They are seldom stuck because they believe there is always a solution. It must be uncovered. The solution is often in the broad overall picture, not in the narrow view. If there is a need of a flashlight to find the flashlight, then the perspective is too close. Village science involves being able to find solutions when none are apparent. Parts stores, specialty tools, libraries and diagrams are often not available. That is when the genius of village people intervenes and clever solutions are uncovered. Knowing how to think, ponder, view from all angles and how to avoid hasty decisions are all tolls in the process of problem solving. | |
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Village Science Review:The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative has sponsored the complete revision of the book, Village Science, which is now available from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network. It amalgamates the practical issues of village life with basic concepts of modern science. The book's primary intent is to create a love affair between rural junior high students and science so they will aspire to careers of influence in Alaska. The examples, questions, stories and explanations help those with an urban view look over the mountains into our world. The ultimate goal is to convince educators everywhere of the urgent need to produce and use culturally- and locally-relevant materials in all aspects of education. | |
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Village Science: ". . . And Junk Like That" by Alan Dick:One of my partners and I had a dog team that was a composite of all the rejects in the village-dogs people didn't want to feed and didn't want to shoot. They were slow but adequate for our needs. The oldtimers told us not to feed fresh lush to our dogs but to freeze them for several nights first. We thought about it and decided that they were giving us some superstition because we could see that the lush were fat and good dog feed. When it was our turn to check the fishtrap, the dogs agreed with us as they ate the fresh lush on the spot. We didn't say anything, not wanting to hurt people's feelings by exposing the local superstition. Within two weeks our dogs were totally lifeless. We had to rest them halfway to the store and it was only two miles from the village. Occasionally, someone mumbled, "fresh lush." We didn't make the connection for quite a while. We fed our dogs tremendous amounts of dogfeed, but they remained skinny and lazy. Finally, the tapeworms started dangling from the dogs' posterior and we got it. Fresh lush have tapeworms! If we had frozen or cooked the lush, our dogs could have made it to the store without a break halfway. Superstition? Hardly. That was science. The oldtimers always told us not to eat snow when walking in the winter. They said to stop and make tea over a fire if we were thirsty. I was only about five miles from home and had walked the trail before. Not wanting to waste time making a fire, I shrugged off the advice and started eating handfuls of snow to quench my great thirst. I almost didn't make it home. It takes 80 calories to convert one gram of 32° ice to 32° water. A junior high student could have done the math and told me I hadn't eaten enough food that day to provide the energy necessary to melt large quantities of snow. I felt qualified to write the sequel to a Jack London saga by the time I dragged myself in the door. I wasn't alone in my foolishness. In the late '60s there was a new BIA teacher in the village. He said "Native people are smart for how to cross the river and junk like that." Before six months were up, he almost drowned twice. He tipped a boat over when the ice was running in the river. His wife had to save him as well as the doctor and nurse who were in the boat. Later that spring, he barely escaped when he drowned his snowmachine in twelve feet of water. There are still some issues I wonder about, like whistling at the northern lights. I don't see how whistling can influence anything. Did I? Of course I did back then. I walk lightly in those areas now. The fact that I don't understand something doesn't disprove it. There are many issues yet to be explained. | |
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Village Science: Alaska Clipart by Alan Dick:My collection currently has over 300 images scanned at 150 dpi and saved as TIFF files. These include images of animals, tools, plants, clothing and more. I used low resolution so files won't be too large. They are ready to insert into applications such as Microsoft Word, PageMaker, PowerPoint, etc. Most are line drawings and only a few images are over 200k. The booklet that accompanies the images was created in PageMaker 6.0 (available in many school districts) and should be easy to expand and revise on the local level. The goal is to make the development of relevant curriculum easy for school districts, teachers and students. Technology makes local publishing of materials a reality. The collection will be available on the ANKN web site to download as a package or as individual graphics (www.ankn.uaf.edu/clipart.html.) As we progress, we hope to make the collection available on CD. Great care has been taken to use only images that are copyright free. Please be respectful of other people's work when you develop your own. I thank Time Frame of Anchorage for starting an Alaska clipart collection and making it available to the public for free. I used many of their images. I also thank Nine Star Enterprises in Anchorage for permitting the use of images from the ALL Project, artist Kathleen Lynch. I also thank UA Press for making images available from Alaska Trees and Shrubs. Suggestions for images to add are: * Local maps with place names * Traditional tools * Traditional activities * Student work * Local animals As you develop local clipart collections, please share them with us so we can distribute them statewide. Hoping that my past frustration has led to your future enjoyment ... | |
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Village Science: Back to School:I told the old man about my frustrations. "You have to know how," was all he said. A few days later, I was very tired, having worked at a mine all day and having fished all night. I spent more time wearily taking fish out of the net than I did with the net in the water. I always keep a wooden club in the boat to dispatch the livelier fish so they don't flop and tangle the net once it is hauled into the boat. I took the club and angrily pounded the dog salmon's teeth in abject frustration. To my utter amazement, the teeth easily fell off the jaw, and the net was released. Within minutes, club in hand, I removed the rest of the fish from the net. The next morning I told the old man of my discovery. He said, "That's how." His way of teaching didn't always include answers. He told me there was a way, but carefully avoided disclosing it. I had found the method, but wished the answer had come through reflective scientific thought rather than anger and frustration. Several months later his son, Antone, and I were getting driftwood from the huge piles that accumulate on the river banks and sandbars. We were quite pleased with ourselves. We were dead tired but in two days had rolled almost eleven cords of wood into the river, lashing and spiking them into a raft. We were using peaveys to roll the logs to the water. Farther back, the logs were drier, and of better quality, but the distance was becoming great between the driftwood pile and the river. One log took almost half an hour to roll to the beach. Later in the second day, the old man arrived in his little boat. He walked across the sandbar with his cane and a length of rope. He didn't say anything, but limped on arthritic knees up to the log. He wrapped the rope around the log. Holding the bottom of the rope in his left hand, he pulled the top of the rope with his right hand that also clutched the cane. The log rolled forward at least two feet. The old man hopped backward, shifted the rope, and pulled again. The log continued to roll. His method worked so well the log almost ran him over. He tangled the rope in his cane a few times, but, within five minutes, the log was in the water. Antone and I leaned on our peaveys, breathing hard, wondering why he had waited two days to arrive. As the butt of a log is bigger than the top, none of them roll straight to the water. When his log misaligned with the river, the old man placed a large stick in the sand directly in front of the log's center of gravity. He rolled it onto the stick and effortlessly pivoted the log straight towards the river again. Without a word, he went to the driftwood pile and started a fire. We got the hint, quickly packed water, and retrieved his grub box from the boat. We talked about the weather, the geese moulting and other matters, but never mentioned logging as we sipped tea and ate homemade bread. He packed up the grub box and left his three-legged tracks to the boat. Antone and I were tired, and a bit deflated. "Next year," we said, "we'll do it right." Mechanical advantage, leverage, friction, center of gravity, physics. They were always there, but their best application eluded us until he came. Since that time, over thirty years ago, I have several times stepped up to a log, wrapped a rope around it, and pulled the top end. The young guys look in amazement as I roll the log as fast as I can walk. My effort is less dramatic, as I lack the cane, yet the effect is still there. Village science is practical and transferable. | |
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Village Science: Developing Science Curriculum by Alan Dick:1. Download. Get your information on paper. Let the ideas flow. Don't worry about sequence, spelling, art or any other distraction. Let the ideas flow. Jot ideas as they come-in the bath, early morning during a walk, etc. 2. Organize the information. Group facts under sensible headings. Put the information in a logical sequence. Adjust for the audience (Grades 1-3, 4-6, 7-8, HS.) It helps to have pictures of students in front of you as you write. Adjust for the educational objectives stated in the curriculum. 3. Insert the educational applications: science concepts, social studies activities, math problems, language arts activities, etc. 4. Develop student responses giving careful attention to the level of understanding of the audience. This consists of measuring the students' response to the materials and measuring the degree to which the educational objectives were met. 5. Edit again for content and formatting. Check spelling, context, flow of words and thoughts. At this point other people are very valuable. It is quite difficult, if not impossible, to edit your own work. Correct spelling and typos. 6. Identify yourself. True learning comes from relationship. With pictures of students in front of you, share those things about yourself that you would want to know about someone writing this text for you. 7. Arrange the above information. A suggested sequence is: A. Personal information about yourself B. Text C. Activities D. Student response (evaluation) | |
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Village Science: Flying in Vertigo by Alan Dick:Similarly, technology has come to rural Alaska so rapidly that sometimes we lose our horizon in terms of anticipating long-term impact on our quality of life. Culturally we are changing at speeds approaching Mach 1. Are we safe or are we in vertigo without a horizon to guide us? What technology should we accept? How should we use the technology we do incorporate? Where are our instruments? As I have watched technology first creep, then rush into the villages, the adaptations of the people have been amazing. A man piloted a boat across many miles of open ocean from the mouth of the Yukon to Nome using his boom box to navigate. He tuned the radio to KNOM, then pointed the boom box parallel with the direction of the boat. As long as he was on course with the antenna parallel with, not perpendicular to, the signal there was no music. When he veered off to one side or the other, the signal increased, and he heard KNOM loud and clear. Following the silence of his boom box, he arrived in Nome. This is an example of ingenuity at work in adapting the technology to a beneficial use. How do we determine what is beneficial and what may be detrimental? What benefits do we derive, for example, when we purchase a satellite dish that will bring fifty-two channels into the house? Do we need fifty-two channels? Do we need two? Or do we purchase a dish because it is available and is more convenient than reading, conversing or working outdoors? How about the four-wheelers that take us from one end of the village to the other in minutes; should we therefore ride rather than walk? Science and technology blends inextricably with social, spiritual and ethical concerns. Do we dare ask the proper questions? Do we dare respond with more than limp efforts to appease our need for convenience? Is it too late? Who will differentiate between right and wrong, convenient and inconvenient? If we do this without Elders and a link to the past, we will certainly become even more disoriented. Why don't we rely on the Elders as our instruments? There is wisdom in going slowly, walking instead of riding, visiting more, going out in the woods or tundra often, doing things the way we used to and positioning ourselves to do what is right regardless of the cost. New technologies can lead us into vertigo if we blindly accept every innovation because it is more convenient, if we do what is easy rather than what is right. To not make a decision is to make a decision, for the rush is already on . . . Mach 1 and accelerating. | |
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Village Science: Good Stew by Alan Dick:As we develop science curriculum based on the local environment, we must acknowledge that it takes time to come up with good questions as well as good answers. Some ideas turn into dead ends. Perhaps my dirt road with potholes is such a venture. It is hard to tell at this stage. The last work I did in developing curriculum based on village life came to me over a three-year span. I was working on the roof when an idea came. I climbed down the ladder to make note of it. As I was driving a boat or cutting wood, ideas came. Usually they come in the middle of an activity. Writing them down before they drift away takes a conscious effort. New ideas are fragile and need to be handled very gently. They are easily lost. They are often overcome by discouragement. However, I have found that "making a stew" of relevant ideas, allowing them to simmer in my mind, and finally bringing them forth when they are complete is one of the most satisfying processes of my life. Good stew simmers well on the back of the cook stove, the ingredients mingling in a way that each one compliments the other. Our intent now is to simmer the ingredients of Western and indigenous science, allow them to mingle and compliment each other. The composite will be far more savory than the ingredients in isolation. As we develop the new ideas, we must be careful to allow them the necessary time for formation. If we do, they will endure. | |
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Village Science: Mastodon Soup? by Alan Dick:As a carpenter I had a hard time doing corners on banisters until I learned to first copy, then bisect the angle. When the pieces are cut at exactly half of the intersecting angle they fit like they grew together. Geometry class rose to the forefront when I got out my compass and scratched the arcs, bisected the angle and then adjusted my chop-saw to the precise setting. As a math teacher and a carpenter, I have to admit that I have never used the Pythagorean theorem to square a building: A2 + B2 = C2. When you do, the answer comes out in feet and tenths of a foot. Accurately converting tenths of a foot to inches just isn't worth the trouble. However, I know that a 3' x 4' x 5' triangle gives a perfectly square corner as do 6' x 8' x 10' or 12' x 16' x 20' triangles: One of the handiest uses of these triangles comes when installing steel roofing. If the first piece of roofing isn't perfectly square with the building, the steel will run up or downhill with a two-inch overhang on one end and a conspicuously different overhang on the other. Problems ceased once I started using a 6' x 8' x 10' triangle to set the first piece of steel. I built a 60' x 80' airplane hanger. The roof overhang was consistent within a quarter of an inch from one end of the building to the other. We used to figure dog feed by the bundle: 40 fish to a bundle, one fish a day per dog, 280 days from freeze-up to break-up, multiplies to seven bundles per dog per winter. Seven times the number of dogs told us how many bundles we needed . Ratio and proportion? We use it all the time mixing two-cycle gas and oil. Arcs and angles? How else do you set the azimuth when installing a satellite dish? Distance = Rate x Time. We do it constantly when traveling by snowmachine from one village to another. As we assign importance to math skills let's look around us and find examples that have meaning to the students. Those with no meaningful application should go the way of the mastodon, at least until the students develop some enthusiasm for the principles involved. Have you ever seen the glaze that comes over a student's eyes after the fourth consecutive long division problem with two digit divisors? They know all adults use calculators when traveling in that rocky terrain. Even if we do the problem by hand, we're not sure we are right. Train B leaves Boston going 60 mph. Train A leaves Los Angeles going 80 mph. Where do they meet? Ugh, mastadon soup! Let's give students a reason to use math to solve everyday problems. Once they have developed an interest they can more readily move on to advanced math. Most of us who live in rural Alaska use math on a daily basis but we have an aversion to contrivances with no real life applications. No ivory towers here. They are too hard to heat in the winter. | |
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Village Science: Risk by Alan Dick:It is easy to point to the mistakes made by people who have been at the point of impact of technological change in Alaska. I remember one homesteader who tried to clear 80 acres of timber. He managed to knock down all the trees. It was a mangled mass of trunks and branches. He got real tired drilling stumps to dynamite them, so he ordered a power auger like we use today for drilling a hole in the ice. He was thrilled when it arrived. He started it and hopped up on a stump to drill his first hole. He revved the engine and spun himself around like an airplane prop. It's a wonder he didn't break both arms. Another homesteader built a nice place but was afraid it would burn in a summer fire. He got some phosphorous fusees to do a controlled backfire in case a blaze endangered his home. Somehow, his fusees ignited and burned his homestead to charred rubble. To this day, there is an indentation in the ground etched by the fuses intense heat. On the other hand, I know a woman raised in the woods whose husband bought her a plastic timer for cooking. She thought it was a thermometer, put it in the oven, and melted it into a gooey blob long before the cookies were done. And most regions of Alaska have a story of some lonely old man who ordered a woman from a Sears catalog and was highly disappointed when only her clothes arrived. For people who are bombarded with new technologies everyday, these examples may sound foolish, but they are stories of folks who were on the edge of technological upheaval and tried to apply past experience to current situations. They are anecdotes of folks who dared to try something new. As schools cope with the demands placed upon them by state standards and the reality of their villages, some will withdraw to the safe territory of textbooks and pre-fab educational kits developed by "experts." Others will boldly innovate. I just returned from a Yup'ik village where the middle school curriculum is being developed around the subsistence calendar. Science, math and social studies are the content areas. Reading and writing are seen as a means of accomplishing them. Bold? Yes. Successful? Not yet. Alaska has been made by people who have applied new twists to old solutions and old solutions to new situations. Will we be paralyzed by the fear of failure? Will we blindly conform to a Lower 48 standard piped to us via cable TV and textbooks from Texas? Or will we remain faithful to the adaptive character of Alaskans of the past? As we struggle through these risky transitions, failures like the above stories will occur, but heroes and lasting educational change will also emerge. | |
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Village Science: Science Unavoidable by Alan Dick:Most good river pilots have noticed the outboard motor increases in pitch when the boat goes from deeper to shallower water. There is more lift due to "ground effect," and the boat travels higher, thus going faster. That is easy to understand. But why does the outboard motor seem to go faster after the sun has gone down? It is easy to say it is the result of an optical illusion, but the pitch of the engine also sounds higher, indicating greater speed, and the wake of the boat flattens out indicating faster travel. Does the boat really go faster and if so, why? I have pondered that for some time. Perhaps the air is denser, giving better combustion. Last spring, my father-in-law asked me, "Have you seen the morning star lately?" I admitted that I never missed it. For months he had looked out the window early in the morning before sunrise, looking for the morning star without success. He was so concerned that he looked with binoculars. Finally it appeared again. He was relieved. I thought, "He and I live on the same planet, but not in the same world." It was a great concern to him and I hadn't given it a thought. I always thought of him as a good hunter and traveler, never as an astronomer. Many weather concerns are obvious. Willow grouse, high in the willows at dusk, fly away quickly when we approach unless a storm is coming and they know they won't eat until the storm passes. If they aren't wild, we know bad weather is coming. Most people in this part of Alaska know that. Yet I wonder, how do sun dogs indicate that cold weather is coming? When the loon calls loud and long on the lake in the summer, a strong wind is soon to follow. How do the loons know this? What are the answers to these weather questions? I have thought a lot about steambaths and the science involved in their operation. Recently, someone explained something to me that was so obvious I was embarrassed. I always wondered why pouring water on the hot rocks made the steambath seem so much hotter. I was thinking about the density of the air and other influences. Strategically placed thermometers didn't help me much. The answer is simple. It takes heat to evaporate water. When water condenses, heat is given off. When water is poured on the rocks, it evaporates into steam. When the steam condenses on our body, the heat required to evaporate the water is released. It is more than a matter of hot water droplets touching us. The latent heat of the steam is released on our skin as we lunge for the floor where the air is a little cooler. The word "science" can be avoided, but the practice of it is a part of every day. The questions seem to mount faster than the answers. | |
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Village Science: The Door Hinge Creaks by Alan Dick:A few months later, I was splitting wood for him again. This time it was severely cold. I did fine for a while, but came upon one block of driftwood that caused the axe to bounce into the air as if I had hit a trampoline. I tried the snow trick, but it didn't help. In the midst of my seventh or eighth swing at the bouncing block, the door hinge creaked again. The old man took the axe, turned his back to me, then laid the block open with one swing. "Medicine," was all he said. I knew he was no medicine man. He walked into the house using his cane. Months later he told me that he had spit on the blade of the axe. Towards spring, I was again splitting his wood, but the thawed ground was very soft, acting as a shock absorber. I was laboring very hard. The door hinge creaked again. The old man came out, rolled from the pile a large block of wood and stood it on end. I thought, "I'd like to see him split that one!" Instead, he put a second block on top of the first one. One swing of the axe split the topmost block. He walked back into the house, cane in hand. "I knew that," I thought. "The law of inertia. The bottom block provided the inertia to hold the top block in place so the full force of my axe was used in penetrating the wood rather than compressing the soft ground." I looked forward to and simultaneously dreaded the creak of the door hinge. Sleetmute 1967. The tuition for that science class was paid in humility. | |
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Village Science: The Pike Story by Alan Dick:Finally, I heard of an experiment done by a researcher. A pike was put in a large aquarium. Every day the researcher poured a container of small fish into the tank. The pike darted around until every one of feeder fish was nestled deeply in his digestive tract. Then the researcher put a piece of glass in the middle of the tank. The pike was on one side and the small fish were poured in on the other. The pike darted back and forth in his usual manner, but was stunned as he repeatedly smashed his snout on the invisible barrier. Again and again he tried. Finally he hovered quietly in the corner. A couple of days later the researcher removed the glass. The little fish swam around, but the pike remained motionless. The little fish cruised around his head. His eyes did not follow them. He didn't twitch. His will had been broken. He had learned not to trust his instincts. Bewilderment had replaced survival skills. Apathy ruled over basic desires. Whatever it was that happened to the pike, it's not unlike what has happened over the years in Alaskan education. Our students natural curiosity has been numbed. When we place promising educational opportunities right before their eyes, they often refuse to strike. This phenomenon can be overcome, though it takes time for students who have been turned off to learn to enjoy learning again, to respond to their natural curiosities, to find what interests them and pursue it. Very seldom does the first lesson based on hunting or gathering of local resources prove successful. We must not give in to discouragement. We teachers too have rammed the invisible barrier until we are often numb to new possibilities. We must exhibit the maturity and persistence necessary to get past the initial stages of discouragement and believe that relevant education is the only way our villages are going to regain their enthusiasm for learning-the true test of standards. | |
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