Environmental Preservation Lifeways Curriculum
Environmental Preservation Lifeways is a K-12 cross-cultural curriculum series that combines western science with traditional ecological knowledge. Lessons are based on traditional activities such as hunting, fishing and gathering, using math and science concepts to develop problem-solving and decision-making skills. Originally written for the Upper Kuskokwim region, this place-based curriculum series also includes lessons on rural health issues including sanitation, healthy drinking water and solid waste management. The curriculum meets the Alaska State Content Standards for Math and Science, and the Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools, and was funded through several grants from the Environmental Protection Agency Indian General Assistance Program.
The “Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Environmental Issues in Rural Alaska Housing” education unit is composed of eight education lessons with a total of 50 activities. The community-based lessons focus on clean drinking water and safe housing and sanitation for people living in rural Alaska. Education activities include Elders working with students to examine and solve environmental problems in the local community.
A series of solid waste lessons have been developed that address many of the important issues that EPA and tribes are working together to solve. The “Solid Waste Management for Rural Communities” is composed of fifty (50) solid waste lessons and eighty-four (84) activities.
The “Water Quality Science and Monitoring” education unit is composed of eight education lessons with a total of 43 activities. The place-based lessons focus on water quality science and how to monitor the water in rivers and lakes in rural Alaska.
The “Traditional Foods and Contaminants” education unit is composed of six education lessons with a total of 55 activities. The place-based lessons focus on traditional subsistence foods and world-wide contaminant patterns and activities that threaten the food resources of rural Alaska.
The Telida Village Environmental Department has attempted to contact the sources contained in the education lessons to obtain permission to use them on the website. We have been able to speak with most of the sources but not all of them. If for some reason, we have not been able to contact you about your educational materials and you would like to speak with us about them, please contact the Telida Village Environmental Department.