This comprehensive resource was authored by Odia Wood-Krueger, author and principal investigator of the research report, “Restoring Our Place,” commissioned by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community as part of its Understand Native Minnesota campaign. She is Métis from Saskatchewan, Canada, and works as a consultant for curriculum and community engagement projects.
Students will learn how four American Indian communities are working to address serious environmental problems. Includes videos, lesson plans, and readings.
Americans: A Dialogue Toolkit for Educators provides basic grounding in the practice of dialogue and includes three 60-minute models that educators can use in connection with the Americans exhibition (Smithsonian, available online) to facilitate dialogue with students. Use this toolkit to facilitate new conversations with and among students about the power of images and words, the challenges of memory, and the relationship between personal and national values.
The Ziibiwing Center’s Programs cover a wide range of educational subjects, and assist students, teachers, and the general public in learning about the history, culture, and contemporary society of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, and other Great Lakes Anishinabek.
Alternatives to Research Papers
Here are some ideas which provide practice in segments of the research process. They require students to become familiar with scholarly research tools and techniques, but do not produce a written paper.
All but the Research Paper
Assignment: Conduct the research for a term paper. Do everything except write it. At various points, students may submit:
Topic with several good questions to explore
Annotated bibliography of useful sources which explore those questions
Outline of paper
Thesis statement
Opening paragraph and summary
Objective: Focuses on the process of research and the elements of a paper
Poster Session
Assignment: Research a topic and present it as a poster which other students will use to learn about the topic.
Objective: Requires use of scholarly resources, research skills, concise communication, and synthesis of ideas.
Trace a Scholar’s Career
Assignment: Explore a scholar/researcher’s career and ideas by locating biographical information, preparing a bibliography of his/her writings, analyzing the reaction of the scholarly community to the researcher’s work, and examining the scholarly network in which s/he works.
Objective: Introduces students to the use of biographical and bibliographical tools, and exposes them to examples of scholarly dialogue.
Identify a Discipline’s Journals
Assignment: How many journals are published in a given field? Identify journals “basic” to the discipline. Locate those through the Saint Paul College Library. Compare and contrast peer reviewed and popular or trade publications in the field. Identify their subject focus, tone, audience, and impact.
Objective: Encourages intellectual exploration, widens the range of possible resources, and demonstrates the importance of journal literature within disciplines. Students differentiate between similar journals.
Understand Primary Sources
Assignment: Compare primary and secondary sources on the same topic. Have the students find a study in a popular or trade publication and then have them find the actual study. How well did the information transfer between sources? What was left out? How well did the popular/trade publication writer capture the essence of the primary source?
Objective: Students differentiate between primary and secondary sources in a discipline. Shows when and why to use each.
Narrowing a topic
Assignment: Given a topic that is much too broad to handle in a short paper, find several sources (magazine, newspaper, or journal articles, chapters in books or reference books) to assist in refining the focus. For example, refine the topic Ethics in Sports down to Drug use in Track and Field and further down to doping in the 2004 Olympics Track and Field events.
Objective: Teach students how to narrow a topic as well as what types of sources they might find useful in doing so.
Other ideas
Annotate an article for a novice reader.
Write or create a piece of music, art, or creative writing in a particular style or genre
Put on a conference complete with poster sessions, panels, papers, etc.
Create an anthology of readings complete with an introduction and reading summaries
Create a pathfinder or website of different types of information sources on a topic
