Below is a series of lessons on Traditional Ecological Knowledge, or TEK. The term TEK is often used to refer to knowledge, beliefs, value systems, and practices in Indigenous communities that relate to the environment. For many Indigenous peoples, TEK is "active" (the way in which one relates to the environment) and is sometimes referred to as a "way of life." TEK is a branch of Indigenous science.

The lessons are a series of readings and discussions, and a hands-on activity. They are aimed and upper elementary and early middle school and fit the NGSS standard 5-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.


The Wildlife Professional, a magazine published by The Wildlife Society, has generously provided this excellent article on TEK “Two-Eyed Seeing” by Joshua Rapp Learn as a no-cost download for educational purposes.

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Learn more about the TEK lessons with this video

 

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(Note: Some buttons link to a document that can be downloaded, others are zipped files for download)
Scroll down for lesson descriptions and further resources

 

Lesson Descriptions

Lesson 1: A classroom discussion on the different ways people acquire knowledge.

Lesson 2: “What is TEK?” Students complete an informational reading describing TEK

Lesson 3: “Animals Important to Yurok TEK.” Students complete informational readings about Yurok culture and animals important to Yurok TEK. They then learn and share through a jigsaw activity.

Lesson 4: “Meet a Scientist: Dr. Seafha Ramos.” Students learn about the work of Yurok Tribe member and Wildlife Ecologist Dr. Seafha Ramos! This lesson contains a short presentation and informational reading.

Lesson 5: “Track and Scat Activity” Students go on a simulated mammal survey and identify animals that have visited different locations by their tracks and scat.

 

Further Resources

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

These lessons were co-created by Dr. Seafha Ramos (National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in biology, wildlife ecologist, and Yurok Tribe member), Science Delivered, Cherie Paul (5th grade teacher at Pacific Union Elementary School), and Maximiliano Quezada (senior undergraduate at Humboldt State University; Wildlife major and Native American Studies minor). Original illustrations were provided by Melitta Jackson (Yurok/Hupa/Karuk/Modoc). Lessons underwent a community review for cultural sensitivity by Heather Rickard, Aja Conrad, Irma Amaro, Frankie Tripp, and others.

 

The Yurok TEK concepts conveyed in these lessons are derived from research conducted by Dr. Seafha Ramos with the Yurok Tribe. Many community members generously shared their love and knowledge so that Native youth could be empowered by seeing themselves represented in science, as well as their Indigenous science in the classroom, and so that others could learn more about TEK from an Indigenous perspective. Interview participants included (aaowk is used as a respectful way to note a person has passed away): Pergish Carlson, Victoria Carlson, aawok Margaret Carlson, Rosie Clayburn, Kishan Cooper, Marion Frye, James Gensaw, aawok Rebecca "Becky" James, Patti James, Noreen Jones, Frank Lara, Walt Lara, Callie Lara, Richard "Dickie" Myers, Sr., Robert McConnell, aawok Allen C. McCovey, Barbara McQuillen, Christopher Peters, Lawrence "Tiger" O'Rourke, and Thomas O'Rourke. Thank you to Erica Dolland for her copyediting work.

This work was supported in part through a cooperative agreement between the National Park Service, Yurok Tribe, and Humboldt State University.

This material is based in part upon work supported by the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology under Grant No. 1906338.  Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. 

Please cite these lessons as:
Ramos, S. C., Science Delivered, C. Paul, M. Quezada. 2020. Traditional ecological knowledge lessons. <
https://www.stemtradingcards.org/teklessons>