In late July, REL Central staff joined educators and partners at two North Dakota events to share resources, exchange ideas, and explore approaches for making elementary mathematics more relevant and engaging for Native American students. Both events highlighted work from REL Central’s five-year partnership with educators and community partners from the Standing Rock Tribal Education Department and Sitting Bull College, located on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation in North and South Dakota, which brings together evidence-based math instruction, project-based learning, and local knowledge and experiences.
Bringing project-based math into the classroom
On July 27–28, REL Central staff joined partners at Sitting Bull College for the Standing Rock Summer Institute, where educators explored ways to meaningfully integrate Dakota/Lakota content, perspectives, and experiences into their teaching through project-based resources.
The two-day institute gave educators an opportunity to learn about project-based education and explore math modules co-developed through REL Central’s Standing Rock partnership. The partnership has worked with local educators to collaboratively design, implement, pilot, and refine elementary math modules that connect evidence- and standards-based instruction with students’ experiences and community through hands-on, real-world projects. Two local design team teachers led participants through activities from the modules, allowing other teachers to experience the lessons from a student’s perspective. For example, participants were instructed to use a template to design a star quilt and calculate the fractions for the different colors and shapes within the quilt.
Participants also considered how the materials could work in their own classrooms. Sessions explored interdisciplinary adaptations, evidence-based math instruction aligned to state standards, and the use of Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to continuously improve instruction. Educators also provided feedback on a professional learning guide being developed to help teachers use and adapt the modules in the future.
Sharing lessons with educators across North Dakota
REL Central also brought lessons from the partnership to the 12th Annual North Dakota Indian Education Summit (NDIES), held July 28–29 at the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck.
During a breakout session, REL Central introduced the partnership’s approach to project-based, place-based math instruction. Participants worked through an activity from a third-grade module about food, using a recipe for local Indian tacos to teach grade level standards by estimating and calculating ingredient costs.
The session also highlighted promising findings from teachers’ spring 2026 classroom pilot, in which 99 percent of surveyed students reported being very or somewhat interested in the module activities, 97 percent completed the activities, and 94 percent reported understanding the tasks very well.
As the Standing Rock partnership moves into its final months, REL Central and its partners are using what they have learned throughout the project lifecycle to refine the modules and sustain their use by developing additional resources to support educators in using and adapting them. These two events provided an important opportunity to put those resources into educators’ hands, gather their perspectives, and help position the work to continue beyond the partnership.
