Placing Ourselves on a Digital Earth: Sense of Place Geoscience Education in Crow Country

Abstract

ABSTRACTSolutions to many environmental challenges now require geoscience expertise, knowledge of global interconnectedness, and an understanding of local cultural nuances, a combination for which geoscientists and our students may not be prepared. The Crow Indian Reservation and its borderlands are a microcosm of these challenges, where geoscience expertise must integrate modern science and local worldviews. We propose sense of place education alongside the use of a digital Earth tool in classrooms as a means of (1) engaging American Indian students and teachers in geoscience, (2) using technology to help students apply geoscience expertise to land management issues in their region, and (3) preparing students for an increasingly intercultural and interdisciplinary future. Developed through a collaborative effort among university geoscientists, tribal college faculty, K–8 teachers, and Crow cultural consultants, the Crow Country Digital Globe integrates the local and global, as well as the experiential and virtual, in geoscience teaching.