Faculty

Norman Thomson - Special Interests

c) Indigenous /Local Contextual Science Knowledge and Learning

As a consequence of colonization and globalization, the Earth's rich heritage of indigenous languages and science knowledge are at risk and linked to loss of biological diversity and species extinction. World wide, students need culturally and environmentally relevant experiences for learning science. I have been conducting research with the Keiyo of Kenya whose language is unwritten. Their interest is to have Keiyo children know and learn about their own cultural and biological heritage. One research project has constructed a relationship between traditional Keiyo cattle raiding (culturally distinct from rustling) and an indigenous probability-based matrix game (Kechui) based on raiding, to develop a conceptual link for student's to understand probability as used in solving transmission genetics problems. A continuing study is to document the local names and knowledge of fauna and flora found along the Keiyo Escarpment in order to develop relevant curriculum.

Closer to home, I have been working with Barrow County middle school teachers and the State Museum of Natural History in an endeavor to incorporate Georgia schoolyard botany, entomology, and geology into hands-on learning experiences through workshops and extended contact.

plants