Early childhood educators are uniquely positioned to advance equity by providing culturally-responsive early learning environments and developing respectful and reciprocal relationships with families. Culturally-responsive teaching practices recognize the diverse cultures of children and families as strengths and empower children through cultural values of their family heritage (Gay, 2010).
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Drs. Katie Cueva and Jen Schmidt of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) traveled to Northwest Arctic Alaska to discuss cancer education for high school students. Cancer is the leading cause of death in the state, and Alaska Native people bear a disproportionate burden of mortality and cancer risk factors. Working with communities to understand and prevent cancer can help lower the unnecessary loss of life from this disease.
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Soon, Alaska Native elementary students in 14 rural Alaska communities will be studying Drones in ways to both connect their science education to their communities and increase their engagement in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. These are among the objectives and goals of a newly awarded National Science Foundation Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) grant, “Drone Research and Opportunities for Native Elementary Students" or DRONES.
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A recent article in the journal World Development, by Matthew Berman, professor of economics at ISER, examines how the Permanent Fund dividend (PFD) has reduced poverty among the 60,000 or so Alaska Natives living in small, isolated communities far off the road system. PFDs are cash payments the state government makes to virtually all Alaska residents every year. Rural Alaska Natives are much more likely than other Alaskans to be poor, mostly because jobs are scarce in remote areas. The author found:
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Suicide rates among Alaska Natives rose rapidly in the 1960s and have remained high since then, with the highest rate among young Alaska Native men living in Alaska's small rural communities: 20 times the rate among Americans as a whole. But suicide rates among young Alaska Native men are considerably higher or lower in some small rural places than in others. In a recent analysis, Matthew Berman, professor of economics at ISER, looked at how community living conditions—including local alcohol control—affect suicide rates among young Alaska Native men. Analyzing data from the period 1980 through 2007, he found that specific community characteristics were associated with either higher or lower risk of suicide.
Download the analysis, Suicide Among Young Alaska Native Men: Community Factors and Alcohol Control (PDF, 561.5KB). It was published in the American Journal of Public Health. If you have questions, get in touch with Matthew Berman at matthew.berman@uaa.alaska.edu.
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A new edition of the ground-breaking map showing the traditional indigenous language regions of Alaska—and related languages of neighboring areas of Canada and Russia—is now available. It is the first revision in nearly 30 years and was generated with geographic information system (GIS) technology. The map is the joint product of researchers at UAF’s Alaska Native Language Center and UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research. This work updates the map originally compiled in 1974 by Michael Krauss, then director of the language center, and last updated in 1982.