Education by and for Indigenous peoples needs to focus on and honor the life-affirming notions of land- and place-based connections, our individual and collective responsibilities, reciprocity, and relationships. In todays’ school settings, redefining what ‘success’ looks like as well as supporting Indigenous identities are critical to teaching and learning in general, and for science education in particular. In contemporary schools, we, as educators, need to focus on place-based knowledges and the concept of reciprocity as being important to the learning, identities, and well-being of our Indigenous students. This is challenging because western science education often attempts to be objective, which removes context and creates barriers for Indigenous students. For this study, I worked with eight students and two faculty in an Environmental Science program at a small, private, 4-year university in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. I employed a qualitative design, consisting mainly of interviews, observations, case studies, and the sharing of stories with students and their instructors. My participants highlighted many important aspects of Indigenous science learning, learning focused on decolonization and sovereignty, and the role reciprocity plays in their lives and their educational motivation. I focus on three themes that emerged from this work: one, that land-based and place-based education, is critical for Indigenous students; two, that reciprocity must be included in how we educate our Indigenous students; and three, that decolonizing science education will include supporting both place-based learning and reciprocity.

原住民的教育需要关注和尊重基于土地和地方的联系、我们个人和集体的责任、互惠和关系等肯定生命的观念。在当今的学校环境中，重新定义“成功”以及支持土著身份对于一般教学，特别是科学教育至关重要。在当代学校，我们作为教育工作者，需要关注基于地方的知识和互惠概念，因为这对我们土著学生的学习、身份和福祉很重要。这是具有挑战性的，因为西方科学教育往往试图客观，这消除了背景并为土著学生制造了障碍。在这项研究中，我与美国太平洋西北部一所小型私立四年制大学的环境科学项目的八名学生和两名教员合作。我采用了定性设计，主要包括访谈、观察、案例研究以及与学生及其导师分享故事。我的参与者强调了土著科学学习的许多重要方面，学习的重点是非殖民化和主权，以及互惠在他们的生活和教育动机中发挥的作用。我重点关注这项工作中出现的三个主题：其一，基于土地和地方的教育对于土著学生至关重要；第二，我们教育原住民学生的方式必须包含互惠原则；第三，非殖民化科学教育将包括支持就地学习和互惠。