Navajo Students Research Articles

Building Bridges: Catalyzing Institutional Change at Utah State University via Experiential Learning with Ute and Navajo Students

This article presents the development, implementation, and impact of a cultural competence course initiated by the Mentoring and Encouraging Academic Success (MESAS) Program at Utah State University (USU). The MESAS Program supports American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students through various initiatives, including the Faculty Advocate initiative, talking circles, the Indigenous Knowledge Symposium, and the Native American Living/Learning Community. Under MESAS, the cultural competence course aims to enhance appreciation among faculty, staff, and non-Indigenous students for the contributions of Native American and other underrepresented groups, while addressing institutional barriers to their academic success and social well-being. The course has been adapted for faculty, staff, and graduate students involved in roles such as summer research mentoring and emphasizing the importance of cultural sensitivity in creating a supportive environment for Native American students, particularly those transitioning between campuses. The article also highlights a case study of a USU professor who applied the course's teachings in interactions with students from the Ute Tribe and Navajo Nation, illustrating the practical application of Culturally Responsive Teaching practices and the Funds of Knowledge framework. Overall, the study highlights the course's positive impact on fostering inclusive teaching practices and deepening relationships with Native American students. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on integrating cultural competence in higher education to enhance the experiences of underrepresented student populations.

Developing STEM Curriculum Units to Engage 4th-8th Grade Navajo Students as Part of In-Class Outreach

The Native American Astronomy Outreach Program (NAAOP) at Lowell Observatory is an in-class STEM enrichment program that pairs astronomers with 4th-8th grade teachers at Native-serving schools in northern Arizona. The astronomer works with the teacher to present hands-on astronomy activities to their class with the goal of getting students excited about STEM and STEM careers. Over three school years (2018-2021), a special collaboration with teachers at the Navajo Nation’s Kayenta Unified School District was used to develop and implement curriculum units for each grade level with potential for a high impact on students. The curriculum used Project Based Learning to better enable students to see themselves as scientists, and it included cultural and local connections related to the science content to encourage students to see science as relevant to themselves. Although impacted by the COVID19 pandemic, student surveys suggest that these curriculum units along with other aspects of the program had a positive impact on students’ interest in STEM.

LEARNING FROM ELDERS: WORKING WITH INDIGENOUS INTERGENERATIONAL MENTORS TO ADDRESS COMMUNITY NEEDS

Abstract Tribal Critical Race Theory (Brayboy, 2005) supports the use of decolonizing methodologies such as Community-Based Participatory Research when collaborating with Indigenous communities. This paper highlights the underlying processes in working with a Dine community on an intergenerational health project. COVID had culturally disruptive effects, e.g., social isolation, on New Mexico’s Dine community. This project describes what can be best thought of as Community-Based Participatory Advocacy (Kopera-Frye, John, & Frank, 2021). Navajo students interviewed 13 area chapter elders on how COVID has impacted the community, particularly with Indigenous Ways of Knowing (IWOK). Thematic analysis indicated themes of loss, stress and social isolation, and health worker effects. Resilience was indicated in response to positive outcomes from COVID including a collaboration and coming together of community. Open dialogue workshops are ongoing to facilitate community healing from COVID. The results highlight the critical necessity of starting with the community elders and using decolonizing methodologies.

Researching My Heritage: The Old Leupp Boarding School Historic Site

My research documents the early history of the Old Leupp Boarding School, a U.S. federal Indian boarding school in operation on the Navajo Reservation from 1909-1942. In keeping with Diné (Navajo) cultural teachings, I utilize non-destructive research methods, including a critical analysis of archival records, historic photographs, and oral history interviews with Navajo elders who attended school at Leupp, to demonstrate how Navajo students and their families resisted the U.S. federal government’s assimilationist educational policies during the early twentieth century. These accounts of Diné survivance and the continuance of k’e relationships demonstrate the importance and power of conducting oral history research in support of traditional archaeological work at historic Navajo sites.

Adapting Summer Education Programs for Navajo Students: Resilient Teamwork.

In May 2020, the Navajo Native American Research Center for Health Partnership (Navajo NARCH) was scheduled to launch two summer programs: a 10 weeks-long Summer Research Enhancement Program (SREP) for undergraduate students to learn and practice health research methods and participate in a practicum experience, and a week-long Indigenous Summer Enhancement Program (ISEP) for high school students that introduces a range of health professions and develops leadership qualities. Students accepted into the programs are predominantly Navajo and live within Navajo Nation (NN) during the summer. Due to NN restrictions and CDC guidelines for physically distancing in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Navajo NARCH team organized to offer both programs entirely online via Zoom™. This paper explores the instructional teams’ adaptation process to maintain a commitment to preserve the programs’ supportive environment for exploring and developing strong multicultural approaches in public health and health research. In preparation for online instruction, the team developed and offered workshops for staff and instructors to address anticipated challenges. The team identified the following challenges: technological difficulties, social disconnectedness, consistent student engagement, and facilitation of a practicum research experience. Results showed that program adaptations were successful as the team applied collaborative and holistic approaches, and established social connections remotely with students to offer meaningful research and practicum experiences.

Using Stories to Teach

Using Stories to Teach Aretha Matt (bio) I grew up on the Navajo reservation during the 1980s and 1990s. I attended a public school in a small rural community and graduated with about sixty other students. I left my home in Querino Canyon, Arizona, two weeks after graduation to attend a summer bridge program at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. This program was designed to integrate students of color successfully into colleges and universities. Students selected for this program were also first-generation college students or students from low-income backgrounds. This program helped me to integrate successfully because they were intrusive and continued their support into my second year of college. I credit this program for my success as an undergraduate student because they provided the resources and support that I needed to acculturate and operate in a new academic environment. I faced challenges and setbacks as a college student; but I did not allow these to deter my decision to complete degrees, including a doctoral degree in English. Along the way, I found that many educators and administrators at colleges and universities were available and supportive when it came to acculturating students to the academic environment; however, I also learned that many of them lacked understanding about Native Americans and our cultures. During my time as a graduate assistant instructor at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, I was categorized by faculty and graduate students on separate occasions as "quiet," "introverted," or "silent." They would also usually follow their remarks with a comment [End Page 86] about how they had Native American students in their classes who, like me, were also quiet. They often reported that they did not know how to approach the student in a way that would open communication. Most Americans know little about Native Americans because our Native histories, stories, and experiences are ignored and/or silenced in schools across America. Most people know only what they learned in primary and secondary grades, which is limited to a paragraph, a page, or a chapter in an American history book or events that occur during Native American month. I felt compelled to teach fellow instructors and my peers about my upbringing and my Navajo (Diné) culture because I feared the lack of knowledge would cause them to develop stereotypical perspectives and other common misconceptions about their students. These instructors needed contextual knowledge to better assist their students. My quiet nature developed, in part, by how I grew up. Some Navajo parents, including my parents, taught their children that words carry weight and/or have creative power. This shaped how I interacted with others. I often heard elders say that it was important to think before we acted (or spoke). Because of this, I will always consider if what I will say will contribute in positive or negative ways to group discussions or one-on-one conversations. Elders, including my parents, reminded us that incessant talking was not looked well upon in the Navajo community because it called attention to self. My parents used shame tactics to correct me when I was overly talkative and boastful. Moreover, listening and observing were more esteemed qualities compared with speaking well. My family and other community leaders ingrained in us that learning was equivalent to listening and observing. There was an expectation that we could learn whatever was heard or observed. This way of learning taught me that my learning was my responsibility. I carried this learning style into my classes and was always a careful listener or observer—absorbing and retaining information. I rarely had questions to ask instructors because I was often still processing the lessons in my mind. I shared these kinds of facts and stories pertaining to my upbringing and my literacy practices to give other instructors some idea about my challenges as a Native American student and writer. I share the following story about my literacy journey to shed light on the challenges that some Native American students face on the pathway to literacy learning. This story is about me; however, it may compare to what other Native Americans, particularly Navajo students, have experienced. I grew up understanding that stories impart knowledge. I...

Testing the Limits of Colonial Parenting: Navajo Domestic Workers, the Intermountain Indian School, and the Urban Relocation Program, 1950–1962

Abstract Closely examining the experiences of mostly female Navajo students, this article demonstrates that the Intermountain Indian School played a pivotal role in carrying out postwar Indian Policy. Like Progressive Era Indian boarding schools, its gendered curriculum prepared students to assimilate as low-status workers into American society and move away from their reservation communities. However, beginning with the first graduating class, Navajo students took advantage of the training but did not necessarily conform to policy makers’ expectations.

Learning from the experiences of Navajo engineers: Looking toward the development of a culturally responsive engineering curriculum

AbstractBackgroundDiverse perspectives, including those of Native Americans, are needed to drive innovation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Tribes such as the Navajo Nation are seeking to strengthen their communities, create economic opportunities, and improve the lives of their peoples by encouraging members of their tribe to become engineers. Research investigating how Navajo engineers experience and understand engineering design and practice in the context of their culture and community can provide insight into how to engage Navajo students in pathways to careers in STEM.Purpose/HypothesisThe purpose of the study was to identify and investigate the ways in which Navajo engineers experience, understand, and apply engineering design and practice in the context of their culture and community.Design/MethodA phenomenographic approach was used to explore the ways that Navajo engineers experience and understand the phenomena of engineering design and practice in the context of their culture and community. A total of 20 Navajo engineers were interviewed for this study.ResultsFour qualitatively distinct lenses on how Navajo engineers experience and understand engineering design and practice embedded in the culture of the Navajo community were identified as (a) Navajo‐centered behavior, (b) Navajo‐centered purpose, (c) Navajo‐centered strategy, and (d) Navajo‐centered application.ConclusionsThe results of the study provide a deeper understanding of how Navajo engineers experience similarities and differences between Navajo culture and engineering design and practice, and provide a foundation for the development of culturally responsive engineering design curricula for classrooms in the Navajo Nation.

Understanding Navajo K–12 Public School Finance in Arizona through Tribal Critical Theory

Background/Context Currently, Native American education policy reports and empirical research papers have largely focused on sociocultural challenges to Native sovereignty and the policy that impedes Native sovereign states. This paper deviates from that theme by implicating policy as preventing improvement of educational outcomes by proxy of the fiscal revenue available to reservation schools, focusing specifically on the Navajo Nation. To date, this is the first empirically driven, Native-specific school finance study that attempts to compare how Anglo and Native schools are funded and how the quality and dispersion of this funding affects Native education and outcomes. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study reports on a longitudinal descriptive analysis of school fiscal revenue (2006–2012), comparing Navajo K–12 school districts against Arizona public school districts. This empirical research paper attempts to answer the following questions: How did Navajo K–12 public school district demographics compare to those of Arizona public school districts from 2006 to 2012? How did Navajo K–12 public school districts perform academically compared to Arizona public school districts from 2006 to 2012? How did Navajo public school district tax rates and assessed property valuation compare to those of Arizona public school districts from 2006 to 2012? How did Navajo public school district revenues compare to those of Arizona public school districts from 2006 to 2012? Research Design This research study is a univariate statistical analysis (i.e., mean, median, standard deviation, range, and percentile) examining general descriptions of individual fiscal revenue variables for schooling. Data Collection and Analysis The data comprised publicly available Arizona Department of Education Excel files (Excel v14.0) merged into one consolidated dataset imported to SPSSv22.0. Our analysis began by selecting Navajo public school districts from our dataset and then comparing them to Arizona public districts (excluding Navajo and nontraditional LEA districts) from 2006 to 2012. Findings/Results This study has two conclusions: (a) There is a clear and growing achievement gap between Navajo and Arizona districts; and (b) Our results seem to suggest that Arizona's equalization formula is not effectively counterbalancing the impact of local property wealth, as shown by the disparities in combined state and local revenue between Navajo K–12 school districts and Arizona districts. Conclusions/Recommendations The findings in this study indicate that Arizona must address policy and practice in order to remedy the educational disparity between Navajo students and their non-Navajo peers. Navajo Nation schools require agency to designate priorities and state funding to meet these priorities.

Public health education in a tribal college setting: description of a BSc programme at Navajo Nation Tribal College, New Mexico, USA

Abstract Background Models of academic public and global health programmes that are culturally situated and that provide training to meet the needs of communities affected by health disparities can provide inspiration for the development of such programmes throughout the world. In the USA, for example, more American Indian health professionals and researchers are needed to develop culturally relevant health education. Native Nations should exercise their sovereignty by designing programmes and passing policy to achieve health equity while recognising the role that culture plays in our understanding of health. Here, we describe a programme at Dine College (Navajo Nation Tribal College) that aims to build and institutionalise the social and institutional infrastructure needed to enhance the Navajo Nation's professional public health capacity by training Navajo students, practitioners, and researchers. Methods Public health faculty at Dine College have developed a BSc degree that meets the specific health needs of the Navajo Nation. The programme is grounded in the Dine educational philosophy, Są'ah Naaghai Bik'eh Hozhoo (SNBH). SNBH provides a philosophy for healthy living through balance with the universe and protection from life's deficiencies. SNBH is composed of four equal and interdependent components: thinking, planning, living, and assurance. In addition, the BSc in Public Health programme is guided by core competencies that reflect both Western public health practice and traditional Dine ideas about health, healing, and the research process. Through a culturally-informed curriculum, this programme aims to produce Dine scholars who are uniquely qualified to conduct health research and to practise public health in their communities. Findings We evaluated the project through tracking student enrolment, completed courses, and student experiences; we also documented factors associated with academic success and application of learned skill sets. Students report that the indigenous focus of the programme reinforces their commitment to a career in health or public health service and research. The new BSc in Public Health programme had 60 enrolled majors in 2018. Students have completed up to 100 credit hours of coursework, and a student advisory committee has reported self-confidence in their progress towards public health competencies. Interpretation Academic programmes that use a culturally-situated curriculum to successfully target aspiring global health practitioners from rural communities with health disparities can serve as models to increase the diversity of global health researchers and the global health workforce. Funding Navajo NARCH Partnership National Institutes' of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH-NIGMS), S06GM123550. Dine College Title III Funding.

Baa H 'ozh 'o Math: Math Circles for Navajo Students and Teachers

Baa H 'ozh 'o Math: Math Circles for Navajo Students and Teachers

Applying Kasper and Petrello’s Nonjudgmental Approach to Navajo Students

This article aims to examine the factors which must be taken into consideration before attempting to utilize Kasper and Petrello’s nonjudgmental approach to English composition classes at a small 2-year college in the American Southwest. The majority of the students there are Navajo. Navajo oral tradition and syntax are two important factors to consider before utilizing this approach. Instructors are suggested to understand Navajo culture including oral tradition and syntax and direct students to the differences and similarities between Western and Navajo rhetorical patterns.

Juxtaposition: The Coexistence of Traditional Navajo and Standards Based Curricula

Northridge Elementary, a small public school serving almost entirely Navajo students, was recently labeled with a failing grade from the New Mexico Department of Education. This study explores what this label reveals and what it conceals. Using educational connoisseurship and criticism as the method of inquiry, this study considers how the label interacts with the structural, intentional, curricular, pedagogical, and evaluative dimensions within the school. As offered in the thematic aspect of the analysis, the label overgeneralizes realities of Northridge Elementary and is hindering rather the benefiting students.

Solar-powered shadow puppetry in a high school science classroom ‘illuminates’ a Navajo student energy forum

Abstract Enacting an energy forum using solar power-illuminated shadow puppets can serve as an effective method for actively engaging Navajo students in understanding the applicability and relevance of alternative energy in their lives and their communities. This article focuses on an education/outreach project that took place over the course of two days in a science classroom at Thoreau High School (THS) in Thoreau, New Mexico, with predominantly Navajo students. The education/outreach project described in this article is attempting to energize the National Science Education Standards for scientific literacy within the Navajo Nation with a dynamic and interactive artistic medium – solar-powered shadow puppet theatre – that is uniquely suited to the study of alternative energy. It not only supports scientific literacy, but also casts the students as authors of solutions to student-identified energy issues specific to their lives, their land and their concerns.

Socially Oriented Motivational Goals and Academic Achievement: Similarities Between Native and Anglo Americans

ABSTRACT The authors examined the relations between two socially oriented dimensions of student motivation and academic achievement of Native (Navajo) American and Anglo American students. Using confirmatory factor analysis, a multidimensional and hierarchical model was found to explain the relations between performance and social goals. Four first-order goal constructs (competition, social power, affiliation, and social concern) represented by 2 higher order factors (performance and social dimensions) were found to be invariant for two cultural groups of high school students in the United States: Navajo (n = 1,482) and Anglo (n = 803). The findings suggest that the effects of performance goals are relatively stronger, and are similarly strong cross-culturally. However, Navajo students were relatively lower in achievement scores and competition goals but higher in social concern.

Healthy Gardens/Healthy Lives

Poor access to nutritious foods, departure from traditional diets, and reduced physical activity are associated with a rise in type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancers among the Navajo. Diabetes in particular is of concern because of its increased prevalence among Navajo youth. Gardening can successfully address issues of poor availability of fruits and vegetables and offer many other social and health benefits. Our assessment aimed to determine Navajo attitudes about gardening and health in San Juan County, New Mexico. We conducted seven focus groups (including 31 people) to assess knowledge and attitudes related to gardening and uncover barriers and facilitators to participation in a garden project. Each group session was moderated by two Navajo students. Transcripts revealed that many Navajo are aware of adverse health issues that occur on the reservation, predominantly obesity and diabetes. Participants expressed a preference for educational approaches that incorporated cultural traditions, respect for elders, use of visual aids, and experiential learning. Several social and agronomic barriers to gardening were also mentioned. Results suggested a broad interest in promoting gardening especially to reduce the risk of diabetes with the added value of enhancing social capital in Navajo communities.

IN MEMORIAM: Ruth Wheeler Roessel April 15, 1934 - April 13, 2012

IN MEMORIAM RuthWheelerRoessei April15,1934-April13,2012 Mydadand I shared something incommon: Weboth "tried" tosupervise my mom - Ruth Roessel. During much ofher 15 -year tenure asthe director ofNavajo Studies at Rough Rock Community School, my father andIheld (atdifferent times) the position of executive director. Howdoyou supervise someone who issmarter, more passionate, more articulate - andalways right? Mymother's knowledge andwisdom far surpassed the traditional measures ofintelligence. Thedaughter ofamedicine man, shewastold byher high school guidance counselor atFt.Wingate High School that sheought tolook for a husband because shewould belucky towork asa waitress. Shedidfind a husband but became much more than a waitress. Together, Ruth andRobert (Bob)Roessel went on tochange Navajo education. Mydadalways saidthat Ruth wasthe inspiration who gave him a small glimpse into the Navajo world. For Ruth, the Navajo world waswho shewasand allshe believed. With every breath, sheshowed how Navajo culture isrelevant totoday's society and why Navajo students need toknow something about it. Itwasfrom this vantage point that Ruth Roessel taught, led,andlived Navajo culture ina way that showed the true meaning of being Navajo. Ruth began her career asa dormitory aideatNazlini Boarding School inArizona. Soonafter shemarried BobRoessel in1956, they moved toTolani Lakeandeventually toTempe, Arizona. Shewould return toher home inRound Rock, Arizona onweekends tolearn stories andsongs from her father. Thisgoing away andreturning home would mark her marriage andthe raising ofher family. Thestory goesthat when Bobasked to marry Ruth, hehadtopromise not totake her far away from the reservation. So,even while heserved asa professor atArizona State University (ASU),they would drive back onweekends - justtosatisfy this promise. When I worked asa photographer, I would travel throughout the reservation with her asI took pictures andshevisited. Ateachstop, shewould learn and listen andshare. Her patience wasnever-ending aswasher pride inbeing Navajo. Every person counted. Every story mattered. Everyone wasNavajo andsheseemed toknow everybody. Mymom welcomed challenges asopportunities tochange the playing field. Her "why not" attitude resulted inher writing books from the Navajo perspective. Navajo Stories ofthe Long Walk Period and Navajo Livestock Reduction :ANational Disgrace (both published byNavajo Community College Press) exemplify the way sheprovided anauthentic voice onNavajo history. Both books were shaped byher conversations with friends andneighbors. Itwasoneway ofmaking Navajo culture real for others. Inher roles asa kindergarten teacher, writer, andcollege program director, Ruth worked tomake her students proud ofbeing Navajo. Shehad away offinding connections between her grandfather's teachings and those ofher professors atASU,where she earned abachelor's and master's degree ineducation. Soft ofvoice, shedidnot sit back orstand aside inlife; she jumped in.Sheserved asthe first director ofNavajo Studies atNavajo Community College(nowDiñéCollege), as principal ofPiñónandRound Rock elementary schools, andas a chapter president andschool board member. Eachrole became a forum toshow how education canandshould strengthen culture. Journal of American Indian Education -51,Issue2,2012 3 Born ina Round Rock hooghan in1934, Ruth's maternal clanwasKinyaa'aani (Towering House)andshewasborn for Áshijhí (SaltClan).Shehadfive children, 12 grandchildren andonegreat-grandchild. Her philosophy for raising children wassimple: "When the baby ishungry, feed her; when the baby istired, put her ina cradleboard and tosleep; when ababy iscrying, pick her up." Mymom had away ofmaking things simple - even ifsheknew they weren't. Sheapplied that same logic toworking inschools. I remember ata Rough Rock staff meeting wewere discussing a discipline issue atthe high school and sheasked pointed questions: "Mr. Superintendent [referring tome], what areteachers doing about theissue? Mr.Superintendent, havetheparents been contacted?" After a short while I could tell shewasgetting agitated andfinally shesaid, "Dr.Roessel, what these kids need isnot more discipline - what these kids need ismore love." Andsoitwaswith Ruth, without excuse orapology - the necessity ofNavajo teaching andlearning wasasimperative asbeing abletoread andwrite. Shetaught not "what tolearn" but a "way tolive." Shebrought loveinto Navajo education - loveof the students, love ofthe subject, and most ofall, love for the process and the potential that education hadtobetter every student's life. Her philosophy ofeducation wascombining the best ofboth worlds.. .with a little love. - C. Monty Roessel, Ed.D. Round Rock, Arizona May15,2012 4 Journal of American Indian Education -Volume 51,Issue2,2012 ...

(Re) Claiming Native Youth Knowledge: Engaging in Socio-culturally Responsive Teaching and Relationships

This article reveals Native youth perspectives on socio-culturally responsive education. The authors draw on two studies conducted in the Southwest among Navajo and Pueblo students. Youth convey the importance of meaningful, reciprocal, and transformative learning experiences and relationships at school. The article ends with suggestions for creating a socio-culturally responsive school environment.

Robert A. Roessel Jr. and Navajo Community College: Cross-Cultural Roles of Key Individuals in Its Creation,1951-1989

Estelle Fuchs and Robert J. Havighurst presented the results from a national study of American Indian education in their book To Live on This Earth. Based on data obtained by researchers at the University of Chicago in 1972, the authors characterized the general state of Native American education in the following way: “With minor exceptions, the history of Indian education had been primarily the transmission of white American education, little altered, to the Indian child as a one-way process. The institution of the school is one that was imposed by and controlled by the non-Indian society, its pedagogy and curriculum little changed for the Indian children, its goals primarily aimed at removing the child from his aboriginal culture and assimilating him into the dominant white culture.”1 The creation of Navajo Community College (NCC) represented the establishment of a cross-cultural brokerage intended to overcome these assimilationist tendencies and to serve five additional purposes: (1) to give the Navajo people a Navajo-owned and -operated college with a curriculum taught by Navajos to help achieve Navajo educational self-determination in higher education; (2) to make higher education for Navajo college students

Challenges Associated with Developing Discursive Classrooms in High-Poverty, Rural Schools

That teacher was discussing the challenges associated with initiating mathematical discourse with his Navajo students. Although he is interested in developing a classroom in which students regularly share their mathematical thinking with one another, such a discursive classroom may in fact be incongruent with the students' culture. This example demonstrates one of many issues that impede secondary-level mathematics teachers in their efforts to negotiate toward a classroom in which students' ideas are valued and frequently solicited.