Solar-powered shadow puppetry in a high school science classroom ‘illuminates’ a Navajo student energy forum

Enacting an energy forum using solar power-illuminated shadow puppets can serve as an effective method for actively engaging Navajo students in understanding the applicability and relevance of alternative energy in their lives and their communities. This article focuses on an education/outreach project that took place over the course of two days in a science classroom at Thoreau High School (THS) in Thoreau, New Mexico, with predominantly Navajo students. The education/outreach project described in this article is attempting to energize the National Science Education Standards for scientific literacy within the Navajo Nation with a dynamic and interactive artistic medium – solar-powered shadow puppet theatre – that is uniquely suited to the study of alternative energy. It not only supports scientific literacy, but also casts the students as authors of solutions to student-identified energy issues specific to their lives, their land and their concerns.