Native Knowledge
Sample Interview Questions
Potential Questions to Begin the Discussion of Change
Student Take-Home Questions
What was the weather like when you were young?
Classroom Interview Questions
What was the weather like when you were young?
How has the weather changed since when you were young?
(Warmer, colder; windier, less windy; more snow, less snow, different snow; unusual storms or weather events?)How are these changes in the weather affecting you? Our town? The animals?
How do you feel about these changes?
What ideas do you have about why the weather is changing?
Related Questions
What's the most important thing for us to know about the weather?
If you are upriver getting wood, how do you know the weather will change?
What weather do you watch for if you want to go hunting?
How can you tell if a storm is coming?
How can you tell if it will be a hard winter?
What should we watch for in our weather study?
Student Take Home Questions
What was fall (winter, spring) like when you were young?
Classroom Interview Questions
What was fall (winter, spring) like when you were young?
How has it changed?
How do you know when fall is coming? What are the signs you watch for? ( If necessary, prompt with questions about ripe berries, fish and bird migrations, animal behavior, hunting, leaf color change, weather)
Has it always been this way? (Is fall coming at the same time as it did when you were young? Does it last as long?)
How do you feel about these changes?
How have these changes affected your life? Our village? Plants and animals?
Related Questions
What is the most important thing for us to know about the seasons?
What is special about fall? Winter? Spring? Summer?
As a child, what did you do in spring? Summer? Fall? Winter?
Student Take-Home Questions
What was the river (lake, ocean) like when you were young?
How can you tell when the river (lake, ocean) will freeze-up?
How can you tell when the ice is safe for travel?
Classroom Interview Questions
What was the river (lake, ocean) like when you were young?
How has it changed?
Has it always had the same channels? Sloughs? Current? Cutbanks? Beaches?
Have you noticed any changes in the water level?
How have these changes affected life on the river (lake ocean)? Fishing? Boating? Hunting? Travel?
How can you tell when the river (lake, ocean) will freeze-up?
Does it always freeze-up at the same place first? The same time of year? Is freeze-up any earlier or later than you remember as a child?
How have these changes affected your life? Our village?
How can you tell when the ice is safe for travel?
Is the ice the same as it’s always been? Is it thicker/thinner? Forming in different places as before? How about overflow spots?
Is travel easier/harder?
How have these changes affected your life?
What are your ideas about why these changes are happening?
The Website for National Science Foundation Grant No. ES1-9910219
Last Modified on May 20, 2002 by Sidney Stephens
