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Headwaters Science Center in northern Minnesota has worked with  
Ojibwe on Leech Lake and Red Lake Reservations and, to a lesser  
extent, the White Earth Reservation.  Michael Price, who teaches at  
Leech Lake Tribal College, built an authentic Ojibwe wiigwaam as a  
display in our Center and Rocky Mountain, an Ojibwe instructor at  
Bemidje State University, and his students made birchbark baskets and  
reed mats to go in it. Because it is on our exhibit floor, Michael  
designed, and arranged to have built, a special heavy metal base for  
the ironwood frame to fit into (instead of being placed into holes in  
the Earth).

We have participated in an NSF program run by the Science Museum of  
Minnesota that involved our working with local "Community-Based  
Science Organizations" (CBSO's). Several of our community partners  
were Ojibwe including Red Lake, Cass Lake, and the Bemidji branch of  
the Indigenous Environmental Network. Though not associated with  
exhibits, an "Inventors of the Future" program, in which HSC is  
cooperating, involves a Federal grant collaboration between AISES  
(American Indian Science and Engineering Society) and Johns Hopkins.  
HSC staff is directing part of the program at an Ojibwe school, the  
Bug-O-Nay Ge-Shig school, on the Leech Lake Reservation. Many Ojibwe  
Head Start and other school groups visit the Center. Our Starlab  
staff members are sensitive to some of the Ojibwe constellation  
names, but this is an ongoing area of education for us. We have had  
several Ojibwe Board members and drawn upon Ojibwe elders for advice  
and programs.

I believe Chris Burda at SMM has gathered constructive notes  
regarding working with Native American groups.

Laddie Elwell
Executive Director
Headwaters Science Center
Bemidji, Minnesota

On Feb 14, 2008, at 2:24 PM, Kyrie Thompson wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> *******
>
> I was wondering if anybody has participated in or knows about
> collaborations between science centers and Native American/Alaska  
> Native
> tribes or groups.  In particular, I am interested in collaborations  
> that
> led to exhibits or programs that include Native American experts  
> and/or
> are meant for Native American/Alaska Native audiences.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Kyrie Thompson
> Exhibit Developer
> Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
> 503.797.4633
>
>
> Can't tell a Psittacosaurus from a Protoceratops? Learn how at
> Dinosaurs: China's Ancient Giants.  Now open at OMSI. www.omsi.edu
> <http://www.omsi.edu/>
>
>
>
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

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