The subsistence living and rich culture of the Gwich'in Indians in Arctic Village, Alaska, depends upon the yearly return of the caribou to their wintering grounds. In this remote village, elders often conduct classes outdoors for the village children who learn to trap, fish, hunt, and dig ground root. (KS)

In Alaska's extensive parks and preserves, the National Park Service is in the difficult position of mediating between traditional Native subsistence practices and Western concepts of environmental conservation. Ethnographic research has raised awareness of the importance of harvest practices to rural Native groups for survival, cultural…

Traditional Inupiat society was, and is, about knowing the right time to be in the right place, with the right tools to take advantage of a temporary abundance of resources. Sharing the necessary knowledge about the natural world with the next generation was critical. The example of learning to hunt is used to demonstrate features of traditional…

Describes storyknifing, a traditional way of storytelling illustrated through pictures traced in mud, by young girls in a Yup'ik Eskimo village on the Kuskokwim River (Alaska). Storyknifing provides a forum in which young girls learn cultural and cognitive knowledge. Storyknifing maintains a link with traditional society in this village. (SLD)

Describes the pros and cons of Alaska's unique Family Partnership Charter School, which oversees distribution of public funding to home-schooling families, offers support to help home-schooling parents meet district standards on their own terms, and monitors required purchase of teacher time and expenditures. A sidebar describes an Alaskan…