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 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: 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.
"This group has been more engaged with these lessons more than our math curriculum, which could be [because] this is different from the day-to-day routine or that it's culture-based." – Standing Rock teacher
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