"Connecting to Land and Sky”

Native Skywatchers - All Nations ... a Collaborative Research Project

This project lives at the intersection of Science-Art-Culture - Team members include: Carmen Gavin Venegas-Science instructor and Co-I, David Bezh Butler, Mishaila Bowman, Kassie Benjamin-Ficken, Shiela Zephier in collaboration with Annette S. Lee - Indigenous Scientist and Artist - PI.

As described by Mi’kmaw elders: Etuaptmumk or Two-Eyed Seeing is learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing, and to use both these eyes for the benefit of all. (Bartlett, Marshall and Marshall 2012, 336)

"Native Skywatchers-All Nations-Connecting to Land and Sky" ©2025.

Lead facilitator, Carmen Gavin Vanegas and team at South High School in collaboration with PI Annette Lee lead the way for Native students to learn science with an Indigenous lens. The cultural learning and science learning strengthen the connections to land and sky. Native Skywatchers helps the All Nations classes (students in Indigenous magnet program) make personal and cultural connections to science, communicate their learning through art, and strengthen ties to community, land, animal and plant relatives. Students carried out ecological restoration, acoustic monitoring, and water monitoring at two sacred sites. They created restoration plans to support the animals using the sites identified acoustically. They used their languages and carried out cultural practices to connect with land and sky such as tobacco offerings and water songs.

Objective: Develop and strengthen relationships to land, sky, plant and animals.

In this project, students focused on connecting with land, community, plant and animal relatives, and the Dakota and Ojibwe cultures and languages while carrying out ecosystem restoration and water quality monitoring and improvement at two sacred sites: Oheyawahi/Pilot Knob and Mound Springs Park.