Cooperative Extension: 4-H

Maine Rivers and Perspectives Kit

Thank you for deciding to use The 4-H Maine Rivers and Perspective Toolkit. This is a new kind of 4-H toolkit designed in collaboration with Wabanaki Youth in Science (WaYS) and other cultural knowledge sharers using the two-eyed seeing method. The five Wabanaki Nations in Maine are the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point (Sipayik), the Houlton Band of Maliseets, and the Aroostook Band of Micmacs (Mi’kmaq). The two-eyed seeing method was coined by Elder Albert Marshall (2022) and describes “the process of seeing the strengths of indigenous ways in one eye, and at the same time seeing the strengths of Western ways in the other eye.”

This toolkit is unique because we are promoting a different way of teaching, with an emphasis on promoting learning for native youth, as well as increasing exposure for all youth to different ways of thinking and seeing the world around them. After the creation of WaYS, from work done by tish carr and others, who have brought to the forefront that not only do we need to focus on supporting Wabanaki youth through science programs like WaYS, but we also need to support non-native educators. This is why in this toolkit we are going to attempt to shift the paradigm in the hopes that it will better serve all youth.

Explore Maine Rivers Experiences

Download and Print : Complete Version of Maine Rivers and Perspectives Kit (PDF)

The Maine Rivers and Perspectives Toolkit has been co-designed with 4-H, WaYS, and Cultural Knowledge Sharers, with a series of experiences/learning activities that will introduce key science concepts, highlighted in a way not typical of traditional Western science education. There are three notable themes in this toolkit: valuing perspectives, valuing ways of knowing, and flexible learning opportunities.

1. Valuing Perspectives: In each experience, youth will be introduced to the idea of perspectives. They will be exploring new perspectives and learning how we can all see things from different angles, past experiences, and may have creative or different ideas about a topic. This does not mean that one is more right than the other.
   • For example, youth in Experience 1 will be asked to draw their own maps. Youth will be asked to depict Maine from their perspective. Each youth then shares with a peer giving value to both perspectives.
2. Ways of Knowing: Experiences will focus on and value youth ideas and different ways of knowing, rather than having them provide correct answers. This can mean different things to different folks, but one way to describe it might be comparing learning from a textbook to learning from lived experience.
   • Incorporating theme two lends itself to theme three. Learning outcomes are designed to be more flexible to allow the opportunity for the facilitator and youth to explore ideas that come up during the experience. This gives the opportunity to latch onto ideas and experiences youth bring with them, rather than following a cookbook activity.
3. Flexible Learning Outcomes: The third theme is changing the design of the writing to prompt more of an organic experience. This is done by allowing flexibility in each learning experience to be responsive to the needs and interests of youth participants.
   • While these experiences are given a suggested timeframe of about an hour, discussions and opportunities to explore youth ideas and interests may extend beyond the suggested time.
   • Give time to express individual perspectives.
   • An experience doesn’t have to fit into a single session, facilitators should use their expertise to help decide to extend learning sessions to longer timeframes or into another session altogether.

Because experiences have been designed to prompt thought and explore learning together, it is important to recognize what the youth might be interested in talking about. When youth express interest in a portion of one of the lessons, if it feels relevant, feel free to explore what the youth want to learn about, don’t be afraid to go off track. For example, if youth are interested in a certain animal not mentioned in one of the activities try to find a way to include this animal in a future activity. It is important to allow the students to express what part of the lesson they might want to dive deeper into.