Curricular Materials

This collection of three teacher's manuals, five videos, and one career exploration guide were created with and for Alaska Native communities as part of the Drone Research and Opportunities for Native Elementary Students project, funded by NSF I-TEST Grant Nos. 1850561 (Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks) and 1850556 (Univ. of Alaska Anchorage). The Drones in Alaska base curriculum has three versions, one with lexicon in Sugs'tun, one with lexicon in Lower Tanana Athabascan, and one with lexicon in Lower Koyukon Athabascan. The Teacher's manual for the Drones in Alaska base curriculum is applicable to all three student guides. The three place-based curricula introduce how drone-obtained data and imagery can be used to understand challenges faced in each of the three communities involved in the development of the resources. For Nenana, Alaska, the Luk'a and Drones unit focus on identifying salmon spawning grounds in the Nenana river. Associated lexicon is translated into Lower Tanana Athabascan (LTA). For Nulato, Alaska, the Studying Tokk'aano with Drones unit examines river erosion and related hazard mitigation. Associated lexicon is translated into Lower Koyukon Athabascan (LKA). For Valdez, Alaska, the Robe Lake unit addresses restoration of a culturally significant salmon harvesting site. Associated lexicon is translated into Sugs'tun. The base curriculum should be instructed prior to any of the place-based units. There is a Drones in Alaska student guide version that pairs to each dialect represented in the place-based units. Five videos supplement these print resources: the Drones in Alaska and Drone Safety videos are intended to pair with the Drones in Alaska base unit. Each of the place-based units have a corresponding video of the same name. The resources were pilot-tested with students in grades 4-6, however, due to the multi-grade classrooms in rural Alaska, some students in grades 2 and 3 also were able to interact with the curricula during pilot-testing.