Reindeer program creates curriculum guide for K-12 teachers

Submitted by Doreen Fitzgerald
Phone: 474-5042
09/24/04

When Elsa the reindeer first stepped into a classroom, handler Greg Finstad had no idea where that educational excursion would lead. Now, five years later, Reindeer Roundup! A K-12 Educator’s Guide to Reindeer in Alaska has been published by the Reindeer Research Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

"This curriculum is our response to the countless requests we’ve had to take Elsa to classrooms and give presentations on reindeer,"? said Finstad, project manager for the RRP, which is part of the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. "We wanted to use Alaska’s reindeer industry as a working model for managing a sustainable natural resource in a northern ecosystem, one that broadens the existing curriculum and exposes students to applied science."? The program maintains a research reindeer herd at the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station’s Fairbanks Experiment Farm.

Finstad first took Elsa to school at the request of his wife, Bev Finstad, a Fairbanks kindergarten teacher. "Kids need real-life experiences to link to the information presented in the classroom,"? she said in a recent interview. "What could be more real than a reindeer they can touch and observe up close? That experience makes the adaptations of arctic animals much more meaningful to the students."? Because the reindeer industry in Alaska is rich in history, science, and culture, it offers a local vehicle for teaching. Curriculum materials include a 190-page book, visual aid CD-ROMs, and a kit of props related to reindeer anatomy and physiology (antlers, hide, hooves). Although the number of kits is limited, extra computer disks will be available, and anyone can download the book from the web at www.uaf.edu/snras/afes/pubs/index.html. Grant funding for the project provides for about 100 curriculum packages to be distributed in the Fairbanks North Star School District, the Bering Straits School District, and elsewhere.

"The curriculum was developed in part using lesson plans written by Nome and Fairbanks teachers who attended RRP reindeer education workshops,"? said Carrie Bucki, Reindeer Roundup! author and former RRP educational outreach coordinator. She also credited the workshop presenters, project educational consultant and Fairbanks teacher Tammy A. Smith, the RRP staff, and community members interested in teaching about the reindeer herding tradition.

The "Reindeer, People, and Land"? section of the book provides background information about reindeer and their environmental interactions: arctic ecology, reindeer history, biological adaptations, behavior, disease, current research, and applied programs. The lesson plans that follow correlate with Alaska state standards and cultural standards for students and educators. They are labeled by grade level, subject, duration, and performance objectives. Although most of the lessons are written for elementary and middle school students, many can be used with older students as introductory material, or enhanced for more rigorous study. Lesson extensions suggest supplemental activities and the RRP staff can assist teachers with presentations, advanced lesson ideas, reindeer classroom visits, and field trips to the RRP facility at the experiment farm.

The project was supported by the National Science Foundation, the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, the UAF College of Rural Alaska, and SNRAS.

For more information contact Greg Finstad, Reindeer Research Program, P.O. Box 757200, University of Alaska Fairbanks; phone 907-474-6055; e-mail ffglf@uaf.edu. The RRP website is at reindeer.salrm.uaf.edu