Tech4Good@SKC received a grant in Fall 2017 to facilitate the development of the Flathead Watershed Transcending Barriers: Connecting Indigenous and Western Knowledge Consortium.
The National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (NCSCE) has launched a new initiative, funded by the Keck Foundation, to advance durable and equitable collaborations between indigenous communities and local educational organizations. The goal of this project is to provide engaging, inquiry-based learning opportunities around environmental and health challenges of immediate relevance and interest to indigenous youth and their communities, while transcending perceived conflicts between “traditional” and “western” knowledge.
Led by university/college/community consortiums in Hawaii and Alaska, other new regional leads include consortiums by:
- Northern Arizona University
- Humboldt State University
- California State University – Channel Islands
- and us, at the headwaters of the Columbia River Basin, in the Flathead Watershed.

The Flathead Watershed:
proposed focus for partnership connecting indigenous knowledge and western science.
with continued game design partners Native Teaching Aids and in partnership with:
- Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Department of Natural Resources
- Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Department of Cultural Preservation
- The University of Montana SpectrUM Discovery Center
- The University of Montana Broader Impacts Group
- The University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station
- The Watershed Education Network
to work with area 8-12th graders and college students to address the community challenge, “Water is Life…”. Through game jams, mentorships, field trips, workshops, and a summer camp for native youth, we will use art, technology, games, and design to collaborate on solving meaningful water-related community challenges.
These explorations will inform a variety of course in Fish and Wildlife, Media Design, and other courses at the college with the intention of creating civic engagement opportunities for students.
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Further Reading: some great links offered by Bob Franco, partner-leader from Kapiolani College in Hawai’i
Big Questions https://teachingtobigquestions.wordpress.com/
Civic Action Campus Compact https://compact.org/actionstatement/statement/
Civic Action Plan KCC https://kdp0l43vw6z2dlw631ififc5-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Kapiolani-CAP.2.28.18.-Final.pdf
We re Still In https://www.wearestillin.com/cities-counties https://www.wearestillin.com/colleges-universities
UH Sustainability policy https://www.hawaii.edu/sustainability/commitment/executive-policy/
https://www.hawaii.edu/policy/?action=viewPolicy&policySection=ep&policyChapter=4&policyNumber=202
KCC Sustainability Climate Action Plan http://ofie.kapiolani.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/KapCC_Sustain_Climate_Plan_050217.pdf
UN Sustainability Development Goals https://www.nwei.org/nweis-commitment-united-nations-sustainable-development-goals/?gclid=EAIaIQob
ChMIzbTS9YGM2gIVgbbACh12Ug6FEAAYASAAEgI2SvD_BwE
KCC- Sustainability Development Goals and Service-Learning Pathways
http://kapiolaniserve.weebly.com/environment-pathway.html
ACCESS Engagement University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and MINA http://servicelearning.socialsciences.hawaii.edu
Film: Models of Civic Engagement
Film: SENCER Hawaiʻi