The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to increase grit, growth mindset, and self-efficacy in pre-adolescent students attending a K-5 public elementary school in Northwest New Mexico by implementing intervention activities in which students were given opportunities to learn and develop grit and growth mindset, thus resulting in improved…

Changing orientations to language, informed by poststructuralism and postcolonialism, challenge modernist representations of languages as bounded entities, tied to particular territories and identities (Canagarajah, 2019; Makoni and Pennycook, 2007). Viewing language as a hybrid and fluid practice, these developments question the theoretical…

Recent studies have projected that by the end of this century between half and up to 95% of the linguistic diversity in the world will disappear or become severely endangered. In the last four decades, the Latin American region, home to more than 500 Indigenous languages, has introduced intercultural bilingual education policies aimed at…

This phenomenological study explores the essence of ancestral knowledge from a belief in reincarnation and consciousness, as it relates to the lived experiences of diverse educational professionals, and its contribution to their growth and development. The study investigates the lived experiences of adult educators from four distinct teaching and…

Teaching topics on Indigenous people and culture can be challenging for educators in K-12 classrooms for a multitude of reasons. This dissertation examines the epistemological complexities that teaching Indigenous identity, cultural teachings, and futurities are met with in mainstream classrooms. In the early chapters, I spend time describing what…

Rooted in Chicana/Latina feminism and interdisciplinary frameworks, this dissertation uses autoethnographic (Behar, 1996), participatory (Baquedano-Lopez, 2021; Irizarry & Brown, 2014), and art-based research (Leavy, 2015; Delgado Bernal, Burciaga & Flores Carmona, 2012) to document Mexicana/Latina campesinas' education in agriculture in…

Indigenous Alaska Native first-generation college students bring a wealth of knowledge and skills yet struggle in Western institutions. The problem is that many Alaskan postsecondary faculty continue to design courses based on Western academic instructional practices instead of culturally responsive strategies when teaching Indigenous Alaska…

This qualitative, phenomenological study examined the impact of the Puko?a Kani ?Aina grant project that provided eight instructors at the University of Hawai?i West O?ahu a professional development opportunity. This study examined how the eight, representing the Mathematical, Natural and Health Science [BSNS, STEM Degrees] Division, were offered…

This dissertation is primarily concerned with nature-human relations -- how human people relate with and see themselves in relation to the rest of nature. Nature-human relations are part of how we make sense of the world around us, and these relationships therefore affect our broader reasoning and decision-making. The magnitude of environmental…

European colonization of vast portions of the world has left its mark long after the point when most societies were supposedly freed. The coloniality of power has ensured the continuing dominance of Eurocentric ideologies in the form of racism, sexism, and the marginalization of Black and Indigenous knowledge production. In this dissertation…

This dissertation begins with a description of the territory that lies between sociocultural theory, education, and the natural world. It consists of three separate studies that all focus on moments of science teaching and learning that are intentionally situated outdoors. The second, third and fourth chapters are written as somewhat independent…

Research regarding outdoor environmental education programs for youth tends to be quantitative in nature, examining cause-and-effect relationships between program content and participants' behavior and attitudes. Some researchers have suggested that programs that help foster an affective connection with nature in its participants may have more…

Nana i ke kumu refers to the Hawaiian practice of returning to traditional knowledge and resources to understand the underlying cultural roots of everyday words and actions used in contemporary Hawaiian settings. In this strengths-based research project, videotaped lessons in four classrooms at a Native Hawaiian-serving school were viewed and…

This dissertation explores the experiences of Native American college students at a four-year institution. Additionally, institutional and non-institutional supports, strategies of resistance against oppression used by Native American college students, and examination of the role that spiritual activism plays in strategies of resistance at a…

Upon regaining the right to direct education at the local level, the North Slope Borough (NSB) of Alaska incorporated Inupiat educational philosophies into the educational system. The NSB in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks established Ilisagvik College, the only tribal college in Alaska. Ilisagvik College seeks to broaden…