Empowering Students and Teachers Through Culturally Relevant Project-Based Math Learning at Standing Rock

Exhibit 1: Module 1: Culture-based, Project-based Learning: Where does our food come from?

Teachers and administrators on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, home to Dakota and Lakota tribes spanning across North and South Dakota, are concerned that their students are not interested in learning math and are often bored or put off by the math instruction they routinely receive. To help more elementary students become interested in and re-engage with math, the Strengthening Culture-based Education in Standing Rock partnership is supporting teachers, coaches, administrators, community members, Tribal members, and cultural advisors to create, test, and improve project-based math modules (Exhibit 1) that are designed to be more relevant to students' lives, incorporate high-quality evidence-based math instruction, and are grounded in project-based learning approaches which provide students with more choice and the chance to engage in more authentic uses of math in solving problems.

To develop the modules, REL Central and its partners focused on three foundational pillars (Exhibit 2): evidence-based math instruction, student engagement, and cultural relevancy. The partnership hopes that, by tailoring math modules to the cultural context and lived experiences of students and their families and communities in Standing Rock, student engagement, and effort in math, will increase. Combining that engagement with evidence-based, high-quality math instructional practices that are aligned to important grade-appropriate math standards and professional supports for teachers, the partnership expects to improve Native students' success in math and beyond.

Exhibit 2: Foundational pillars of Standing Rock math modules

Culturally Relevant Content

To date, REL Central and its partners have worked to collaboratively design two math modules: one focused on Indigenous food and the other on Indigenous design. The modules provide students a space to share their opinions, bring in their lived experiences, work collaboratively, and choose what they want to learn and how they want to demonstrate their learning, all while engaging in grade appropriate math content that meets high-priority standards. REL Central has relied on its partner teachers in Standing Rock to pilot the modules in their classrooms and provide feedback on their successes and challenges so that the modules can be improved, and over time, will work in more and more Standing Rock classrooms.

Exhibit 3: Student's shopping list with prices.

In a task in Module 1, students research the price at local stores for ingredients to make an Indian taco, a popular dish for many Standing Rock students. Students add up the cost of each ingredient to determine the total cost of making the recipe (Exhibit 3). From there, students can calculate how much it would cost to double or triple the recipe or compare prices across stores to find the best total value. This activity is easily scaffolded up or down across grade levels to hit appropriate grade-level standards, extend students' learning further, or integrate prior years' standards that students may not have mastered. For example, to focus on third grade standards, students can round the cost of ingredients to the nearest dollar, and then either add or multiply to calculate the price of doubling the recipe. Alternatively, one teacher in Standing Rock expanded this lesson for a group of sixth graders to include calculating the profit they would make from selling a certain number of tacos at different prices.

As part of this activity, students also develop an interview protocol with the support of their teacher to ask family members or other Elders about food, memories of meals, or celebrations centered on feasts. One class came up with questions such as "When you think about a holiday like Thanksgiving, what is the first thing that comes to mind?" "What is your favorite traditional snack to eat?" and "What is a favorite meal that is made by the whole family?" This process ties in cross-disciplinary aspects such as writing and speaking skills and allows students to learn culture from the experts around them.

Exhibit 4: Student example of star quilt design

Similarly, a section in Module 2 includes designing beadwork. A Standing Rock teacher who piloted this section reflected that his students had familiarity with creating beaded jewelry and brought his examples into class during the project. The teacher also shared examples of Native American beaded medallions, necklaces, and bracelets, inviting discussion of the various symbolisms. Students then used grid paper to design a beaded medallion, incorporating their own symbolism into the design. Once the designs were made, students calculated the fraction of each color bead they used. They then translated this fraction into a percentage. As an extension activity, the teacher walked students through simplifying their fractions. From the teacher's reflection, REL Central gleaned ideas for scaffolds and extensions to explicitly add into the activity. Another activity in this module (Exhibit 4) asked students to explore fractions through designing star quilts, a traditional gift in Lakota culture.

Project-based Learning Requires a Different Instructional Mindset

A primary feature of project-based learning is that it provides more authentic choice for students than more traditional ways of learning.¹ Students are encouraged to lead discussions, choose subtopics that interest them, and decide how to showcase their learning at the end of the module.

Because providing students with authentic choice is new for many teachers, REL Central has built scaffolds into the modules to assist teachers with choice and adaptation. While the modules provide suggestions for how a teacher may engage students in a task, teachers are encouraged to leverage their own knowledge of their students to adapt the activities to best suit their classroom. The pay-off for this instructional shift (and potential accompanying discomfort) is high student engagement. When engaged, students who might otherwise give up easily apply more effort and complete more activities and learn more material. Over time, their confidence to try and persist in new tasks increases.

We have found that encouraging Standing Rock teachers to modify lessons, if they feel comfortable doing so, has increased their confidence in their ability to engage in project-based teaching. But for other teachers, especially new teachers who may know less about their students, the activities in the module provide ways to make the math more relevant even if they do not adapt the materials. While some teachers expressed hesitancy as they began teaching the lessons, they soon realized they knew their students well enough to adjust the lessons appropriately and quickly saw the change in their students' response to math instruction. Standing Rock teachers noted that their students were more engaged, eager to learn, and proud of their work.

A Professional Learning System to Support Teacher Uptake

Because the goal of this partnership has been to routinely provide students with better math learning opportunities, the team is focused on designing professional supports for teachers who may be unfamiliar with the routines and mindsets required to successfully implement project-based learning and who may be unfamiliar with the culture and lived experiences of the students in Standing Rock. Because of the high teacher turnover in Standing Rock schools, there will always be some new teachers trying to better help their students learn. The professional learning system that the partnership is building is designed to help all teachers, new and experienced, provide these opportunities for learners. Each of the key components of project-based learning featured in the modules--student collaboration and brainstorming, individual student research, and accountable talk²--is supported in evidence about learning and requires teachers to establish new routines within their classroom that accommodates this level of student engagement and choice. They also require teachers to be willing to let students lead the conversation, which may mean eliminating preconceived notions of an expected student response. Instead, teachers' role should primarily be to guide discussion and correct misconceptions. For teachers to be adept at meeting students where they are, they may need to adjust the lessons, reteach a concept, or incorporate more foundational standards into instruction.

REL Central held in Standing Rock this summer and built-in supports in the modules that support these kinds of instructional changes, knowledge about students, and resources in the school and community to support successful implementation of the project-based learning. The institute featured sessions co-facilitated by Standing Rock teachers to discuss the way math is currently being taught in their schools and explore the current modules. Teachers who attended the institute brainstormed new module topics such as gardening, buffalo, and Native American toys, and dozens expressed interest in both piloting the modules in their classrooms and attending REL Central's ongoing design team meetings to design future modules. REL Central is grateful for and humbled by the outpouring of enthusiasm by Standing Rock teachers toward this project this summer and the hope they have expressed in changing Standing Rock students' learning experiences.